This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2002 Chevrolet Malibu. When the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for brake repairs, the technician noticed that the entire frame was rotted out and advised the contact to take the vehicle off the road. The technician did not proceed with the brake work, stating that the vehicle was completely damaged and not able to be repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 185,000.
The car was taken in for routine maintenance. Upon inspection the GM mechanic showed me that the brake lines were completely rusted out. There are other parts of the under body that have a lot of corrosion. There is potential risk of failure which could lead to an accident. The car has under 100,000 miles on it, is garage kept and very well maintained. Upon further research, there have been many complaints and accidents relating to this specific issue on GM vehicles. Discussing the problem with GM customer service, it was told that it would the responsibility of the local dealer to workout a method of payment but GM was essentially not going to be of any help. The local dealer clearly has no incentive to to bare the cost of the repair. This is a engineering design flaw that should be taken care of by the oem. Other vehicles by GM have had this problem but no recall or acknowledgment of this issue is present. Other oem have had similar problems and quickly addressed it has a free repair/recall to the their customers.
Found corrosion on the brake lines and master cylinder, and other lines that are located under the battery corrosion plate. The battery corrosion plate was a good idea. However, putting brake lines & other components under were are not a good design. It's flawed, for if the battery plate becomes corroded, then it leaks onto the lines below and causes damage as in my vehicle.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Barnegat, NJ, USA