Chevy, GMC Trucks Under Further Investigation for Rusting Brake Lines
General Motors’ T800 series of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs, with specific reference to 1999-03 models of Chevy Silverado, Avalance, Suburban and Tahoe, as well as their GMC counterparts, Sierra and Yukon, have been subjected to an investigation regarding rusted brake lines.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in a filling posted last week, has said it has upgraded its original investigation to an ‘engineering analysis’ covering the affected vehicles, following concerns regarding its preliminary findings.
Said findings included no fewer than 26 separate complaints of brake line corrosion which have resulted in vehicle accidents since the agency first began looking into the problem last year.
GM, in a statement last year, said that even if a brake line rusted through, one of these trucks should still be able to stop safely.
In the course of its investigation, NHTSA initially targeted 6 million vehicles, but later reduced this 1.8 million when it decided that only vehicles being driven in rust belt states (where the roads are salted in winter) are adversely affected.
Said states comprise Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.
Considering NHTSA’s recent spate of recalls, we have to think an official recall notice is coming soon.
[Source: New York Times]
More by Huw Evans
Comments
Join the conversation
If it were Toyota The Feds would be on them in a heartbeat... But not GovM they will investigate until most of them are off the road and prob do very little if anything
A few days back I was driving my GMC Sierra Denali pickup with my girlfriend in the passenger seat when the brake pedal went straight to the floor with no warning. The vehicle having a non-functioning E-Brake left me no reasonable way to stop the vehicle. The roads ahead of us were unfortunately all downhill and we had no brakes! I shifted the truck down to 1st gear and navigated down the roads turning left and right to avoid hitting obstacles in front of us, all the while the vehicle was picking up speed. I eventually came to the bottom of the hill where the road came to a dead end with a lake just beyond a very thick chain pulled between two posts, leaving me the option to either hitting the trees on either side or hitting the chain which I expected would tear apart the whole vehicle and possibly injure us. I told my panicking and terrified g/f to sit all the way back in her seat and brace herself. We hit the chain and to my surprise it either broke or came detached from the post with little impact. With sustained momentum and a lake now in front of us, I cut the wheel pushing the vehicle into a skid to bring the vehicle to stop. The brake system offered no brake pressure at all upon failure. This was an extremely terrifying experience. I'm very grateful that we were not injured. I also think it is nothing more than a fact that IF G.M.C. DOES NOT RECALL THIS PRODUCT, IT IS ABSOLUTELY OBVIOUS THAT THIS COMPANY HAS NO CONCERN WHATSOEVER ABOUT THE SAFETY OF THEIR CUSTOMERS AND VALUES THEIR FINANCIAL INTEREST FIRST. ONE LIFE IS MORE VALUABLE THAN ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY. It is nothing short of embarrassing and evil that G.M.C. thus far has not taken responsibility for their mistake. GM HAS PUBLICLY STATED THAT "THIS IS NOT A SAFETY ISSUE." I ask what could be any more unsafe in a vehicle than losing your brakes at 70 MPH on highway? Maybe losing them at 80?? IT'S TIME FOR A RECALL! ON BEHALF OF THE MANY CUSTOMERS WHO ARE CURRENTLY DRIVING THESE UNSAFE VEHICLES PLEASE!!!