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GM Drags
Its Three, or So, Feet, But Finally Recalls Its Runaway-Prone SUVs and Pickups
in Additional Cold-Weather, Salt-Rich States
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GM Drags Its Three, or So, Feet, But Finally Recalls Its Runaway-Prone SUVs and Pickups in Additional Cold-Weather, Salt-Rich States
By James B. Bleeker
General Motors Corporation's Recalls-of-Runaways saga begins back in November 2004. Then GM issued a recall of the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche, the 1999-2002 Chevrolet Silverado and full size pickup, the 2000-2002 Chevrolet Suburban, the 2000-2002 Chevrolet Tahoe, the 1999-2002 GMC Sierra and full size pickup, the 2000-2002 GMC Yukon, and the 2000-2002 GMC Yukon XL in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Labrador for a braking problem that arises, per Detroit News, when salt corrodes the bearing case, the corrosion pushes the braking sensor farther from the bearing case surface (which the sensor reads), the increased distance causes the sensor to send a false "lock" reading to the ABS system's computer, the computer reduces braking pressure, and as a result, stopping distance increases.1
However, GM did not recall the same vehicles in the U.S., arguing that Canada uses a different kind of salt.
In early May 2005, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that it had commenced an investigation of more than 1 1/4 million 1999-2002 Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicles and Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks sold in 20 states - Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri - for the above brake problem.
Four months later, in September 2005, GM issued a recall of 804,000 1999-2002 Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and GMC Yukon XL sport utility vehicles and Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks in the cold-weather states of Maine, New Hampshire Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois for repair of the above brake problem. However, the recall omitted vehicles in the cold-weather, salt-rich states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. The omission may seem ludicrous to almost any, if not any, thinking human being, but not to GM people.
Auto on Info noted the omission in its September 2005 Article "GM Recalls 804,000 Pickups and SUVs for Braking Problem Caused by Road Salt; Excluded are Cadillac Escalades and the Cold-Weather and Road-Salt-Rich States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa," in which site manager noted, "However, it seems likely that in Minnesota and Wisconsin at least as much salt is used as in Ohio or Michigan and that GM vehicles in the more urbanized counties of the former states are at a risk of developing the braking problem that is at least as great as that in the urbanized counties in Ohio and Michigan." And in November 2005, Wisconsin's Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation objecting to the exclusion of Wisconsin and urging a national recall.2 As vehicles commonly traverse several states on a regular basis in the highly mobile U.S. economy and as vehicles move, with their owners, from state to state, a national recall has considerable merit.
GM's response has been to issue another partial recall. On December 23, 2005, it announced a recall of another 553,000 1999-2002 Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and GMC Yukon XL sport utility vehicles and Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks in Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. Owners of the foregoing living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota or Fargo or Grand Forks, North Dakota may wish to buy a house in Minnesota. Again, the Cadillac Escalade was omitted from the recall.
Transport Canada describes the repair of the brake problem thusly: "Dealers will remove the wheel speed sensor and thoroughly clean the wheel speed sensor mounting surface on the bearing, apply Zinc-X to the cleaned surface, grease the mounting surface, and check the output voltage to ensure the wheel speed signal is within specifications."3
1 "GM Launches Huge Pickup, SUV Recall," Jeff Plungis, Detroit News, August 31, 2005, at http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0508/31/E01-298706.htm
2 "Appeals Court Urged to Throw Out Regional Auto Recalls: Consumer Groups Want All Vehicle Owners to Be Notified of Defects," Ken Thomas, the Associated Press, Detroit News, at http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051210/AUTO01/512100348/1148
3 Transport Canada at http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/recalls/search1_e.asp
Sources for GM's Recalls-of-Runaways saga: "General Motors Vehicles Hit with Another Safety Investigation: NHTSA to Investigate 1.3 Million GM Pickup Trucks and SUVs for Corroding Brake Part," Auto on Info, May 2005, and "GM Recalls 804,000 Pickups and SUVs for Braking Problem Caused by Road Salt; Excluded are Cadillac Escalades and the Cold-Weather and Road-Salt-Rich States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa," Auto on Info, September 2005
Source for current recall: "GM Expands Recall of SUVs to More States," the Associated Press, December 23, 2005, available at Yahoo! News
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