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GM launches huge pickup, SUV recall
Automaker moves to fix brake problems in 804,000 vehicles across seven models.
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WASHINGTON -- In the face of a chorus of complaints among pickup and SUV owners, General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it would recall 804,000 Chevrolet and GMC trucks to fix their anti-lock brakes.
GM says corrosion from road salt gets in between the casing surface and the sensor, pushing the sensor further from the bearings. This leads to false readings, causing the anti-lock brakes to activate at the wrong speeds, alarming drivers and making stopping difficult.
The company reported 228 crashes through the end of May, including 10 with minor injuries. There have been no reports of fatalities related to the defect.
GM said truck owners could contact their dealers or the national customer service centers to arrange the repair.
The free service is being offered on seven models: the Chevrolet Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe and Avalanche and the GMC Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL. The recall covers model years 1999 through 2002.
The recall affects trucks only in 14 cold weather states: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia.
To repair the brakes, dealers remove the anti-lock brake sensors and clean the surface of the wheel bearing casing. The casings will be treated with a zinc-based rust inhibitor.
Anti-lock brakes help reduce the risk of skidding or sliding by pumping the brake pedal repeatedly, much faster than even a trained driver could do. But when the systems kick in at low speeds, such as when drivers are approaching a stop sign or parking, it will take a truck longer to stop. Many Michigan drivers have reported low-speed accidents or close calls with their garage walls.
Some truck owners have taken to removing a fuse to deactivate their anti-lock brakes, preferring conventional brakes to a system that was unreliable.
GM conducted a similar brake recall last November in Canada. In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began a defect investigation to determine whether the brake problem was occurring in the U.S. Initially, the company resisted doing a similar campaign in the United States, saying the complaint rate was one-tenth of that in Canada. GM suggested the corrosion might be linked to a special type of road salt used only in Canada.
GM reversed itself when it re-examined the data and found more evidence of customer complaints in the cold states. But it declined to do the recall in six states targeted by NHTSA and Washington, D.C. GM said the repair data in those states did not suggest a widespread problem.
"Right now, the focus is on these states, for these conditions, for these trucks," said GM spokesman Alan Adler. "The idea here is to keep the customer happy."
In a letter to NHTSA on Monday, GM said by June it determined a high rate of "customer incidents" in cold states. The company's Executive Field Decision Committee decided to conduct the recall on August 24, the letter said.
Adler said truck owners would receive letters notifying them of the recall by the end of the year. The delay was related to getting enough sensors, which are examined as part of the repair procedure. In the meantime, customers can contact their dealers or call the Chevrolet or GMC customer service centers for additional information.
Dealers have had access to a service bulletin describing the problem and how to conduct the repair since 2003, Adler said.
Customers who have had repairs done already will be eligible for reimbursement if they have saved their receipts, Adler said.
The news of the recall was a relief for Donald Nickerson, a fire chief in Jackson, Maine. Nickerson said his wife recently had a close call in their GMC Sierra 2500 pickup.
Returning home from a short errand, she couldn't get the truck to stop. The brakes just "chattered," Nickerson said. She let up on the pedal, and the brakes worked the second time.
"I've torn that truck all apart trying to figure out what's wrong," Nickerson said. "You get ready to stop, and nothing happens. You got a big truck, that's real scary. When I heard about the recall, I said no wonder I've had all these problems."
The recall comes amid a spate of costly repair campaigns over the last two years. Through July, before the brake recall was announced, GM had conducted 24 recalls affecting 3 million vehicles. Over the same stretch in 2004, GM did 30 recalls affecting 9 million vehicles.
You can reach Jeff Plungis at (202) 906-8204 or jplungis@detnews.com.
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