Post by Venturi on May 27, 2005 8:04:27 GMT -5
WASHINGTON -- Vince Gonzalez was having a hard time controlling his 2000 Chevrolet Silverado pickup, leading to some close calls.
It was taking him so long to stop the truck that he sometimes nearly hit the car in front of him. Over time, the Troy resident lost confidence in the pickup's brakes. His wife grew so terrified she stopped riding in the truck.
Gonzalez's Silverado is one of nearly 1.3 million trucks that could be recalled to fix a brake problem, pending a government defect investigation.
General Motors Corp. recalled thousands of trucks in Canada last fall for a similar problem, saying road salt could corrode bearings, lead to false readings in a sensor and prematurely activate antilock brakes.
But so far the company says it has received too few complaints to take action south of the border.
An employee at GM's parts division for 30 years, Gonzalez has heard stories about the same kind of antilock brake problems from other truck owners. At least five co-workers had their antilock brake sensor systems replaced, he said. Gonzalez was astonished that, in news accounts, GM said the problem didn't exist in the United States.
"I don't buy it," Gonzalez said. "I've heard too many people talk about it."
The recent experience of Gonzalez and other truck owners indicates that the GM braking problem may be more widespread.
The federal government is investigating whether a defect exists in antilock brakes on 1.3 million 1999-2002 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups sold in the United States, as well as Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles.
If an antilock brake sensor malfunctions, the system can kick into gear at low speeds, taking control away from the driver and leading to longer stopping distances.
In November, GM notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it was recalling 150,000 trucks in Canada with the problem and offered a free fix to truck owners.
GM said the problem was isolated to Canada because it is related to a particular kind of salt used there to clear the roads in the winter. Salt gets into the wheel hub and corrodes bearings, forcing a sensor away from the surface it reads to judge wheel speed. As a result, the car computer gets a false speed reading, leading the antilock brakes to kick in at the wrong time.
To fix the problem, wheel hubs and sensors were removed, and the casings that the sensors are attached to were cleaned. GM applied a zinc-based coating to the surfaces and verified that the sensors were working normally.
Since the recall in Canada, numerous drivers in the United States have reported near-misses because of braking failure.
NHTSA is still in the early stages of its U.S. probe. When it was launched, the agency had 120 complaints that included 22 crashes and four injuries. Presuming the problem is linked to road salt, the investigation is focusing on trucks in 20 states in the Northeast and the Midwest, stretching from Maine to Virginia in the East and to Minnesota in the Midwest, including Michigan.
When NHTSA launched its probe April 28, GM told the federal government that it had received few reports of the problem in the United States. GM still has not received enough evidence that the problem is affecting trucks used in the United States to take further action, according to company spokesman Alan Adler.
"We are still gathering information for our response to NHTSA, but when we looked at this issue last fall, there was a significant difference in how often this issue occurred in Canada and in the U.S.," Adler said. "We saw three incidents of this per 100,000 trucks in the U.S., versus 30 incidents per 100,000 trucks in Canada."
Adler said that because the problem was occurring at low speeds -- between 4 mph and 10 mph -- the safety risk was small.
But based on complaints from pickup owners in the weeks following a report in The Detroit News, the problem is not limited to Canada. Some drivers have even disabled the antilock brake system because of sputtering behavior.
Laura Hunt recently had a close call in her 2001 Chevy Silverado at a family cabin in northern Michigan.
"We pulled up close to the lake, stepped on the brake, and nothing happened," Hunt said. "I thought we were going to be swimming."
Hunt said her husband has only driven the truck once in the last month, out of safety concerns. She won't let her grandchildren ride in it.
GM has initiated a raft of recalls in recent months. In a single day last month, the automaker announced six recalls that covered 2 million vehicles.
Last year, in one of its largest recalls ever, the automaker replaced the tailgate cables in 4 million pickup trucks.
The recalls can make it difficult for GM to earn and retain customer loyalty, even as the automaker makes gains in quality on other fronts. Last week, the company scored well in an annual new-car customer satisfaction survey by J. D. Power and Associates.
Antilock brakes are designed to prevent skidding and help drivers maintain control, especially in wet conditions. Antilock systems use sensors to monitor the speed of each wheel; if it senses a wheel locking, the system's computer adjusts pressure in the brake line.
If the antilock brakes are working, a driver might feel the brake pedal pulsing. That means the system is rapidly building and releasing pressure -- something akin to the way drivers used to be taught to pump the brake pedal to retain control in a skid, but much faster.
Dennis Hogan, owner of a Warren boat services company, said he has trouble with his 1999 Tahoe since his wife turned it over to him last year. He says at low speeds the truck growls and doesn't seem to want to let him stop.
Hogan said his family is "GM to the bone." Between his father, uncles and cousins, Hogan said there is more than 400 years of GM working experience in his family. How GM reacts to the brake problem will say a lot about the company," he said.
"Cars are a commodity nowadays," said Hogan, who is a GM stockholder. "What separates the players and the nonplayers is their level of service. That includes recalls and defects. This falls into a 'must' category, because it definitely is a safety issue.
"I don't necessarily want to spank them. On the other hand, I don't want malfunctions to be swept under the rug."
It was taking him so long to stop the truck that he sometimes nearly hit the car in front of him. Over time, the Troy resident lost confidence in the pickup's brakes. His wife grew so terrified she stopped riding in the truck.
Gonzalez's Silverado is one of nearly 1.3 million trucks that could be recalled to fix a brake problem, pending a government defect investigation.
General Motors Corp. recalled thousands of trucks in Canada last fall for a similar problem, saying road salt could corrode bearings, lead to false readings in a sensor and prematurely activate antilock brakes.
But so far the company says it has received too few complaints to take action south of the border.
An employee at GM's parts division for 30 years, Gonzalez has heard stories about the same kind of antilock brake problems from other truck owners. At least five co-workers had their antilock brake sensor systems replaced, he said. Gonzalez was astonished that, in news accounts, GM said the problem didn't exist in the United States.
"I don't buy it," Gonzalez said. "I've heard too many people talk about it."
The recent experience of Gonzalez and other truck owners indicates that the GM braking problem may be more widespread.
The federal government is investigating whether a defect exists in antilock brakes on 1.3 million 1999-2002 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups sold in the United States, as well as Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles.
If an antilock brake sensor malfunctions, the system can kick into gear at low speeds, taking control away from the driver and leading to longer stopping distances.
In November, GM notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it was recalling 150,000 trucks in Canada with the problem and offered a free fix to truck owners.
GM said the problem was isolated to Canada because it is related to a particular kind of salt used there to clear the roads in the winter. Salt gets into the wheel hub and corrodes bearings, forcing a sensor away from the surface it reads to judge wheel speed. As a result, the car computer gets a false speed reading, leading the antilock brakes to kick in at the wrong time.
To fix the problem, wheel hubs and sensors were removed, and the casings that the sensors are attached to were cleaned. GM applied a zinc-based coating to the surfaces and verified that the sensors were working normally.
Since the recall in Canada, numerous drivers in the United States have reported near-misses because of braking failure.
NHTSA is still in the early stages of its U.S. probe. When it was launched, the agency had 120 complaints that included 22 crashes and four injuries. Presuming the problem is linked to road salt, the investigation is focusing on trucks in 20 states in the Northeast and the Midwest, stretching from Maine to Virginia in the East and to Minnesota in the Midwest, including Michigan.
When NHTSA launched its probe April 28, GM told the federal government that it had received few reports of the problem in the United States. GM still has not received enough evidence that the problem is affecting trucks used in the United States to take further action, according to company spokesman Alan Adler.
"We are still gathering information for our response to NHTSA, but when we looked at this issue last fall, there was a significant difference in how often this issue occurred in Canada and in the U.S.," Adler said. "We saw three incidents of this per 100,000 trucks in the U.S., versus 30 incidents per 100,000 trucks in Canada."
Adler said that because the problem was occurring at low speeds -- between 4 mph and 10 mph -- the safety risk was small.
But based on complaints from pickup owners in the weeks following a report in The Detroit News, the problem is not limited to Canada. Some drivers have even disabled the antilock brake system because of sputtering behavior.
Laura Hunt recently had a close call in her 2001 Chevy Silverado at a family cabin in northern Michigan.
"We pulled up close to the lake, stepped on the brake, and nothing happened," Hunt said. "I thought we were going to be swimming."
Hunt said her husband has only driven the truck once in the last month, out of safety concerns. She won't let her grandchildren ride in it.
GM has initiated a raft of recalls in recent months. In a single day last month, the automaker announced six recalls that covered 2 million vehicles.
Last year, in one of its largest recalls ever, the automaker replaced the tailgate cables in 4 million pickup trucks.
The recalls can make it difficult for GM to earn and retain customer loyalty, even as the automaker makes gains in quality on other fronts. Last week, the company scored well in an annual new-car customer satisfaction survey by J. D. Power and Associates.
Antilock brakes are designed to prevent skidding and help drivers maintain control, especially in wet conditions. Antilock systems use sensors to monitor the speed of each wheel; if it senses a wheel locking, the system's computer adjusts pressure in the brake line.
If the antilock brakes are working, a driver might feel the brake pedal pulsing. That means the system is rapidly building and releasing pressure -- something akin to the way drivers used to be taught to pump the brake pedal to retain control in a skid, but much faster.
Dennis Hogan, owner of a Warren boat services company, said he has trouble with his 1999 Tahoe since his wife turned it over to him last year. He says at low speeds the truck growls and doesn't seem to want to let him stop.
Hogan said his family is "GM to the bone." Between his father, uncles and cousins, Hogan said there is more than 400 years of GM working experience in his family. How GM reacts to the brake problem will say a lot about the company," he said.
"Cars are a commodity nowadays," said Hogan, who is a GM stockholder. "What separates the players and the nonplayers is their level of service. That includes recalls and defects. This falls into a 'must' category, because it definitely is a safety issue.
"I don't necessarily want to spank them. On the other hand, I don't want malfunctions to be swept under the rug."
Source:The Detroit News
