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News and Commentary: Auto News, Analysis and EditorialAfter
13,000 Consumer Complaints and Warranty Claims and 83 Reported Injuries, NHTSA
Ratchets Up Investigation into Collapsing Tailgates of Another 3.1 Million GM
Pickups
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After 13,000 Consumer Complaints and Warranty Claims and 83 Reported Injuries, NHTSA Ratchets Up Investigation into Collapsing Tailgates of Another 3.1 Million GM Pickups
By James B. Bleeker
Per the Detroit News, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has intensified its investigation into breaking support cables and consequent collapsing tailgates on 3.1 million General Motors Corporation vehicles - the 1998-2004 Chevrolet S-10 and GMC Sonoma pickup trucks and the 1998-2000 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks - after documenting nearly 13,000 consumer complaints and warranty claims on the vehicles. In an April 19, 2005, article, the publisher states that through April 18th, NHTSA had received 29 reports of injury due to support cable breakage on the 1998-2004 Chevrolet S-10s and GMC Sonomas and 54 reports of injury due to support cable breakage on the 1998-2000 Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras. The former is up from 5 reported injuries as of November 2004, when NHTSA commenced its investigation of the S-10s and Sonomas. (See"GM Safety Recalls May Take Another Leap," AuOnInAutoNews, December 2004.) The investigation of the 1998-2000 Silverados and Sierras continues from an upgraded investigation of 1999-2003 Silverados and Sierras announced in February 2004. (See"GM's Quality Problems Keep Rolling Out: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Ratchets Up Investigation into General Motors' Collapsing Tailgates," AuOnInAutoNews, February 2004.) February 2004's upgraded investigation resulted in a 3.66 million vehicle safety recall of 2000-2004 Silverados and Sierras, 2002-2004 Chevrolet Avalanches, and 2002-2004 Cadillac Escalade EXTs in the U.S. on March 18, 2004.
From the March 2004 safety recall, all Silverados and Sierras of model years 1998 and 1999 were omitted, as well as some Silverados and Sierras of model year 2000. As explanation for their omission, GM claimed a design change in October 1999 that permitted moisture to weaken the galvanized, braided cables of the post-September 1999 vehicles. Although not clearly stated in the Detroit News article, this appears to refer to the adoption of a cable sheathing that possibly expedited rusting. However, rusting may not be the primary culprit; an AP article on the subject mentions metal fatigue of the braided cable as leading to the collapsing tailgate.
GM's explanation for not yet having recalled the S-10s and Sonomas is more amusingly GMesque. The AP article reports Alan Adler, a GM spokesman, as saying "those trucks are used for very different purposes and we have had comparatively fewer [sic] number of warranty claims or complaints." He omitted that 61,000 warranty claims preceded GM's 2004 Silverado-Sierra-Avalanche-Escalade safety recall. (See "Prompted by a Growing Number of Injuries and an Intensified U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Investigation, General Motors Recalls 4 Million Pickups," AuOnInAutoNews, March 2004.)
In the Detroit News article, Mr. Adler is quoted as saying, "It's premature to talk about a recall." However, NHTSA reports having received a total of 682 complaints regarding support cable breakage on the 1998-2000 Silverados and Sierras, per an April 19, 2005, Detroit Free Press article, 252 more than it had received for the 1999-2003 Silverados and Sierras and 2002-2004 Avalanches and Escalade EXTs as of February 2004 (less than a month before GM's March recall), per a February 23, 2004, Reuters article. (See"GM's Quality Problems Keep Rolling Out: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Ratchets Up Investigation into General Motors' Collapsing Tailgates," AuOnInAutoNews, February 2004.)
The upgraded investigation affects 1.67 million 1998-2000 Silverados and Sierras and 1.43 million 1998-2004 S-10s and Sonomas, for a total of 3.1 million pickup trucks. If recalled, General Motors will again take a hefty lead in the cumulative number of calendar-year safety recalls. In 2003 and 2004, GM dominated in a rather colossal way this index of negative quality. (See "General Motors' U.S. 2003 Recall Numbers: A Bottomless Pit and a GM Defense?," AuOnInAutoNews, March 2004, and "General Motors' Recalls Remain Gargantuan in First Half of 2004," AuOnInAutoNews, July 2004.)
With the upgrade, the investigation is at the stage of engineering analysis. The Detroit News reports that in 2003 58% of engineering analyses resulted in safety recalls.
Note: This article was modified on April 19, 2005, to include some additional information and make one correction.
Sources for NHTSA investigation: "U.S. Upgrades Investigation of GM Pickups," Ken Thomas, the Associated Press, April 18, 2005, available at Yahoo! News, "GM May Face Recall of 3.1 Million Pickups," Jeff Plungis, Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0504/19/C01-154988.htm, and "GM Probe Intensifies," Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/irep19e_20050419.htm
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