Amazing that GM was willing to let their customers die for a little $0.57 plunger. Their cars have been getting progressively cheaper and cheaper, with plastic parts replacing the metal parts that were used on GM cars back in the 60's 70's & 80's.
I was a Ford Mechanic at the time. It was not the tanks, it was the Strap Bolts configuration and length. The fix(which worked) was a HDPE Shield attached to the Straps. In the event of a rear impact they prevented Bolt penetration through the tank.
Unreal how many GM vehicles have this issue. GM’s recall does not fix the actual problem. The ignition switches are garbage...so sad to see this story. My Malibu currently has this issue and has died on me while driving a few times. I will not drive it until I get it fixed and I will never buy GM ever again.
You should have gotten a letter in the mail not long after buying it from the dealership. GM and Chevy only had this issue with specific vehicles, and they will fix it for free. It's not hard to follow directions.
As a GM fan, this really let me down. Its sad when a company decides that its cheaper to pay off lawsuits than to put an extra plunger in the ignition switch. Or Fords case in the Pinto.
You'd think they would give you a new ignition switch with that safer plunger... Nope! All they do is give you a key fob less prone to turning. Way to "fix" the problem GM
+netweit3 GM replaced my ignition and key, as well as upgraded the software in my ECU. I drive a 2005 Saturn Ion, this is the second recall I've done, first was the power steering that would shut off. Those two faults are absolutely deadly.
This is crazy. It’s sad that car makers have resorted to using cheap plastic pieces in newer cars built by to save them money. However, car makers are making it impossible for small mechanics to fix car parts on newer vehicles without having to replace a bigger part that’s more expensive.
I am a engineer as well as a mechanic. The issues is not just the ignition switches that fail. In a couple cases maybe especially if other keys are on ring. The other bigger issue is due to the way the grounding on all the computers from PCM to BCM on this and various other GM car from these era. What happens is corrosion on the chassis ground connector. All the computers are ground at this point and on on various points on the car. What happens is ground is lost due to vibration and corrosion and you get low serial bus error which cause car to go to reduced engine power and in some cases if bump is hard enough complete lost of power and car shut off. I notice this at first on some older corvettes then started seeing same issue on various GM cars up to 2005. I even seen where the ABS traction control module fail due to cold solder joint cause also serial bus error which cause limp mode on various GM cars during this time. The reason why I know this was had a couple of GM cars one from 2001 and other was a 2005 that came in due to random loss of gauges, or car shut off, or reduce engine power issue at random and a couple other tech at the shop I work at pass it to me as they couldn't figure it out after they assume it was a ignition switch and car still had the issue at random after replacing the whole ignition switch assembly. Took me some days but figure above was the issue.
The ignition turns easily enough that if you have items on the ring and it bumps your knee as it is hanging while you are in motion the ignition can turn off. Try it yourself with any car.
My brother was killed in a 2003 Saturn Ion on September 6th, 2011 while coming home from the gym on a sunny afternoon. The car was totaled yet GM bought the wreckage in less than 24 hours. We tried to sue but got nowhere. I miss him. Every. Damn. Day.
How can you allow a power steering design in a mass produced car that doesn’t allow steering if the power assist failed is beyond me! These systems were designed by a Toyota spinoff company that GM had supplying the electric steering units in the cobalts. Equally concerning is in this same time period TOYOTA was putting them in Corollas! Granted Toyota didn’t have the same ignition issues GM had it does concern me that these Corollas with the same electric steering are still operating along with the cobalts out there. The GM ignition controversy pretty much took a lot of the spotlight from the glaring issues with the electric steering issue. These electric steering units should not have been used in a car if there wasn’t a fail safe equivalent to how hydraulic steering works, you lose assist but still have manual steering. Take power from these electric steering units and they lock up.
Any kind of power steering runs when engine is running. Be it hydraulic or electronic. Also turning off doesn't take away complete powersteering it just becomes harder
So the ignition switch causes the engine to quit, and that causes the power steering to fail. No big deal, it doesn't take much effort to steer when you're moving, your steering just gets a bit stiff is all. That will not cause a car to veer. Most likely the girl got distracted or fell asleep, and the switch got moved during the crash.
The mistake gm made was using a shittypart. Ive had mine cut outon me even after the "recall service". Really tho it just takes common sense. Dont keep anything on your keys.
why is it that a brand new car that I haven't even made the first payment on yet, is already having issues and when taken to a GM dealership they tell me that everything is normal and they cant do anything, yet the service tech that rode in the vehicle and heard and felt the problems said "that's not good" and when I asked to drive another vehicle of the same year and make to compare and see if in fact the issues that were deemed NORMAL were apparent in the other model, I was told there were no other vehicles of that year available for test drive however, their inventory showed the same make and year vehicle in stock? Could it be that the dealership is brushing the problem under the rug and trying to avoid driving another one because they know that the issues displayed ARE NOT NORMAL for a one month old car?
+james mcdonald The service technician would not be able to hear and feel the ignition switch problem. Doesn't have to be the same year, make, or model. It is within the first month where most problems are discovered and remedied -- a usual part of buying a new car.
you said it spot on,they dont want to have to pay out for a defective design just like the defective seatbelt retractors on our car ,which have the problematic dual retractor system and is well known in corvette forums and also mentioned by aftermarket seatbelt manufactures that do not use the dual retractor design.
2015 I was in a accident I was driving my new impala and I hit a bump it shut my car off and locked it up I couldn't do anything but hold on my airbag never worked and I was in a reck do to a reca'll ignition switch defect and was blamed for hitting another car on purpose an did over 4 years in prison do to this an no-one looked into this or believed me then after 1 1/2 years later the reca'll came out. I would like someone from chevy to contact me
@@EdwardRatliff i have been dealing with GM for an oustanding safety recall, and if you read all the documents and emails i have recieved from GM and GM Customer Care you would see how dishonest and misleading they are and is in their modus oppurundi,as GM is well aware they have to send out written recall notice by mail to owners of recalled vehicles within 60 days,and appears they would rather get sued then take care of recalls and fix the cars to make them safe.
Dont worry about it, because if you can't maneuver or stop a car that just so happened to slip in to accessory mode maybe you should be dead. Should people be able to sue for blown fuel pumps too?
we had a case like this while i was in school. was made out to be 'the other driver' - really i think it was just our kid who got drunk. like this woman and her boyfriend who got drunk at dinner and crashed a car.
I own a HHR Chevrolet by GMC issues initial switch and a few more other things.really I wish they just give me another vehicle I've been dealing with this for years . but I know that won't happen. But I do know God is able !
I had an 2002 Saturn sl2 and the car would not turn on somwtimes because the ignition put the car in safety and wouldn’t let the car turn on thank god I was never in a situation that required me to get in and leave quickly. Like being robbed or something because my car wouldn’t not have turned on thank god I junked that car
My 08 cobalt is doing this. I was stranded last night in town. Thank goodness my brother was in town at that time considering he lives 2 hours away. He saved the day
You can be perfectly comfortable with power steering and braking, but nobody can save a car that drops RPM that fast, and disables the ABS, power steering and power braking within seconds.
@@ThierryTheuns going hwy speed you dont need power steering in town or at low speeds engine had shut down car would decelerate on its own trust me ive lost power steering before and have driven without it as well
@@timjohnson6864 I've lost power steering twice, mid-corner, both times I got lucky and could run off the road without damaging anything. An engine stalling will not decelerate that hard, especially not at highways speeds.
Problem is that apparently when the electric steering loses power which it did with the ignition switch issue it locks up the steering wheel as if it were in the lock position but in the on or accessory position.
What killed her was the fact that the woman could not handle driving a vehicle after it looses power steering and breaking. Perhaps drivers education should teach women how to drive a standard vehicle first.
beautifulmicia could you be any more ignorant! when the key is no longer in on position steering is lost I know I had this happen to me on a turn these cars don't have hydraulic steering it's electronic steering!
Yes there is. It's called electric power assisted steering. Many newer vehicles use it now. Particularly in some new Kias, you can still easily turn the steering wheel for a few seconds after you shut the engine off.
Amazing that GM was willing to let their customers die for a little $0.57 plunger. Their cars have been getting progressively cheaper and cheaper, with plastic parts replacing the metal parts that were used on GM cars back in the 60's 70's & 80's.
dont believe everything you hear
@@JohnRiversOfficial don't worry, I see it at work. He's right.
Ford: our cars exploded because we didn't want to fix the gas tank.
GM: hold my ¢57 spring
I was a Ford Mechanic at the time. It was not the tanks, it was the Strap Bolts configuration and length. The fix(which worked) was a HDPE Shield attached to the Straps. In the event of a rear impact they prevented Bolt penetration through the tank.
That happened to me one day, my knee hit the switch on a bumpy road. Two seconds of hell.
Unreal how many GM vehicles have this issue. GM’s recall does not fix the actual problem. The ignition switches are garbage...so sad to see this story. My Malibu currently has this issue and has died on me while driving a few times. I will not drive it until I get it fixed and I will never buy GM ever again.
You should have gotten a letter in the mail not long after buying it from the dealership. GM and Chevy only had this issue with specific vehicles, and they will fix it for free. It's not hard to follow directions.
And let's not forget that GM received a bailout from the US government! I'll never buy a GM product again.
In Europe GM Has no pressence so I and other europeans are Safe
@@enegizedadam Opel was owned by GM until 2017...
As a GM fan, this really let me down. Its sad when a company decides that its cheaper to pay off lawsuits than to put an extra plunger in the ignition switch. Or Fords case in the Pinto.
dont believe everything you see
You'd think they would give you a new ignition switch with that safer plunger... Nope! All they do is give you a key fob less prone to turning. Way to "fix" the problem GM
+netweit3 GM replaced my ignition and key, as well as upgraded the software in my ECU. I drive a 2005 Saturn Ion, this is the second recall I've done, first was the power steering that would shut off. Those two faults are absolutely deadly.
@@PaulHenning84 Wow, both on one car. I've had power steering fail on me mid-corner before, and I just managed to pull over into the grass.
This is crazy. It’s sad that car makers have resorted to using cheap plastic pieces in newer cars built by to save them money. However, car makers are making it impossible for small mechanics to fix car parts on newer vehicles without having to replace a bigger part that’s more expensive.
I am a engineer as well as a mechanic. The issues is not just the ignition switches that fail. In a couple cases maybe especially if other keys are on ring. The other bigger issue is due to the way the grounding on all the computers from PCM to BCM on this and various other GM car from these era. What happens is corrosion on the chassis ground connector. All the computers are ground at this point and on on various points on the car. What happens is ground is lost due to vibration and corrosion and you get low serial bus error which cause car to go to reduced engine power and in some cases if bump is hard enough complete lost of power and car shut off. I notice this at first on some older corvettes then started seeing same issue on various GM cars up to 2005. I even seen where the ABS traction control module fail due to cold solder joint cause also serial bus error which cause limp mode on various GM cars during this time.
The reason why I know this was had a couple of GM cars one from 2001 and other was a 2005 that came in due to random loss of gauges, or car shut off, or reduce engine power issue at random and a couple other tech at the shop I work at pass it to me as they couldn't figure it out after they assume it was a ignition switch and car still had the issue at random after replacing the whole ignition switch assembly. Took me some days but figure above was the issue.
Thanks for mentioning
The ignition turns easily enough that if you have items on the ring and it bumps your knee as it is hanging while you are in motion the ignition can turn off. Try it yourself with any car.
My brother was killed in a 2003 Saturn Ion on September 6th, 2011 while coming home from the gym on a sunny afternoon. The car was totaled yet GM bought the wreckage in less than 24 hours. We tried to sue but got nowhere. I miss him. Every. Damn. Day.
@blackjackkittyyy post your story on www.CarComplaints.com
I’m sorry for your loss.
I was extremely moved by your comment. May his spirit watch over you and protect you.
Let's all pray for the brother of Blackjackkitty.Amen. 1 like= 1 prayer
I’m sorry for your loss
GM: We're gonna make driverless cars! Also GM: Can't make a damn ignition switch.
@johnny Macon Who built the part to their specs, subject to their approval.
How can you allow a power steering design in a mass produced car that doesn’t allow steering if the power assist failed is beyond me! These systems were designed by a Toyota spinoff company that GM had supplying the electric steering units in the cobalts. Equally concerning is in this same time period TOYOTA was putting them in Corollas! Granted Toyota didn’t have the same ignition issues GM had it does concern me that these Corollas with the same electric steering are still operating along with the cobalts out there.
The GM ignition controversy pretty much took a lot of the spotlight from the glaring issues with the electric steering issue. These electric steering units should not have been used in a car if there wasn’t a fail safe equivalent to how hydraulic steering works, you lose assist but still have manual steering. Take power from these electric steering units and they lock up.
Even my $40K Volkswagen doesn’t have power steering when the key is turned off. Why would it?? It’s electric power assist as well.
Any kind of power steering runs when engine is running. Be it hydraulic or electronic. Also turning off doesn't take away complete powersteering it just becomes harder
So the ignition switch causes the engine to quit, and that causes the power steering to fail. No big deal, it doesn't take much effort to steer when you're moving, your steering just gets a bit stiff is all. That will not cause a car to veer. Most likely the girl got distracted or fell asleep, and the switch got moved during the crash.
That is what i thought. Dont make sense.
Maybe she was mid turn an didn’t expect everything to cut out all the sudden. That’s all it takes for a huge accident.
The mistake gm made was using a shittypart. Ive had mine cut outon me even after the "recall service". Really tho it just takes common sense. Dont keep anything on your keys.
The steering wheel locks dude.
It also sometimes can lock the steering column.
G.M.C. -- "Gotta Mechanic Coming" Very sad story of this nice young, beautiful lady.
why is it that a brand new car that I haven't even made the first payment on yet, is already having issues and when taken to a GM dealership they tell me that everything is normal and they cant do anything, yet the service tech that rode in the vehicle and heard and felt the problems said "that's not good" and when I asked to drive another vehicle of the same year and make to compare and see if in fact the issues that were deemed NORMAL were apparent in the other model, I was told there were no other vehicles of that year available for test drive however, their inventory showed the same make and year vehicle in stock? Could it be that the dealership is brushing the problem under the rug and trying to avoid driving another one because they know that the issues displayed ARE NOT NORMAL for a one month old car?
+james mcdonald The service technician would not be able to hear and feel the ignition switch problem. Doesn't have to be the same year, make, or model. It is within the first month where most problems are discovered and remedied -- a usual part of buying a new car.
never said anything about an ignition switch
you said it spot on,they dont want to have to pay out for a defective design just like the defective seatbelt retractors on our car ,which have the problematic dual retractor system and is well known in corvette forums and also mentioned by aftermarket seatbelt manufactures that do not use the dual retractor design.
2015 I was in a accident I was driving my new impala and I hit a bump it shut my car off and locked it up I couldn't do anything but hold on my airbag never worked and I was in a reck do to a reca'll ignition switch defect and was blamed for hitting another car on purpose an did over 4 years in prison do to this an no-one looked into this or believed me then after 1 1/2 years later the reca'll came out. I would like someone from chevy to contact me
Are you telling the truth??? Why would the assume you swerved on purpose?
@@EdwardRatliff i have been dealing with GM for an oustanding safety recall, and if you read all the documents and emails i have recieved from GM and GM Customer Care you would see how dishonest and misleading they are and is in their modus oppurundi,as GM is well aware they have to send out written recall notice by mail to owners of recalled vehicles within 60 days,and appears they would rather get sued then take care of recalls and fix the cars to make them safe.
Never but defects cars or plastic cars.
It may be an issue of how heavy a key chain is hanging off said ignition switch !
Thats definetly part of the problem
Just use the key by itself .you should have all that extra weight on the key that pressure pushes it back in the off position
my 2005 buick allure now having the same issue, what to do? any suggestions?
BIRD KING I heard that people just replace the ignition
Dont worry about it, because if you can't maneuver or stop a car that just so happened to slip in to accessory mode maybe you should be dead. Should people be able to sue for blown fuel pumps too?
www.carcomplaints.com --- post your issue there
Thanks, WARNING: DON'T ATTEMPT TO SAVE OR SAVE A LIFE IN louisiana, WILL BE CHARGED OR JAILED WITH A CRIME.
this is such a sham.
we had a case like this while i was in school. was made out to be 'the other driver' - really i think it was just our kid who got drunk. like this woman and her boyfriend who got drunk at dinner and crashed a car.
This doesn't explain anything about what caused the accident
Where is the one covering Toyota’s sudden acceleration?
Riley Smith It was the mats recall that they avoided to do and it cost them billions.
what's that got to do with the brakes? Just asking.
+keri ellerbe it shuts off ABS and break assist, as well as power assist when the engine is shut off.
Losing abs isn’t the biggest issue it’s losing the assist. Abs prevents lockup.
I have an 06 trailblazer doing this
dont use so many keychains. like holy hell
Apparently my saturn is doing this
I own a HHR Chevrolet by GMC issues initial switch and a few more other things.really I wish they just give me another vehicle I've been dealing with this for years . but I know that won't happen. But I do know God is able !
well let's go back to model t when you had to crank the engine by hand
Anyone else notice how the narrator's voice weirdly rises and falls
I had an 2002 Saturn sl2 and the car would not turn on somwtimes because the ignition put the car in safety and wouldn’t let the car turn on thank god I was never in a situation that required me to get in and leave quickly. Like being robbed or something because my car wouldn’t not have turned on thank god I junked that car
My 08 cobalt is doing this. I was stranded last night in town. Thank goodness my brother was in town at that time considering he lives 2 hours away. He saved the day
Ford is not gm?
Do Not Buy Junk American Cars I stick with Hyundai Buy Hyundais
I sell GM cars myself and most of our cars now have push button start
I own Toyota’s made before and after the accelerator pedal/floor mat faults
So i was right buy an old ford
Just not a focus with a a double clutch transmission.
Font buy gm crap lmao cheap american cars
Buy Hyundai Toyota
Know how and learn how to. Control with out power assisted breaks plus stearing
You can be perfectly comfortable with power steering and braking, but nobody can save a car that drops RPM that fast, and disables the ABS, power steering and power braking within seconds.
@@ThierryTheuns going hwy speed you dont need power steering in town or at low speeds engine had shut down car would decelerate on its own trust me ive lost power steering before and have driven without it as well
@@timjohnson6864 I've lost power steering twice, mid-corner, both times I got lucky and could run off the road without damaging anything. An engine stalling will not decelerate that hard, especially not at highways speeds.
@@ThierryTheuns trying to say im lying about a no brake deceleration from 60,-40 ,mph in 10 seconds or fewer without applying the brake?
Problem is that apparently when the electric steering loses power which it did with the ignition switch issue it locks up the steering wheel as if it were in the lock position but in the on or accessory position.
Sounds like drunk driving.
sounds like a GM problem
What killed her was the fact that the woman could not handle driving a vehicle after it looses power steering and breaking. Perhaps drivers education should teach women how to drive a standard vehicle first.
beautifulmicia could you be any more ignorant! when the key is no longer in on position steering is lost I know I had this happen to me on a turn these cars don't have hydraulic steering it's electronic steering!
Yes there is. It's called electric power assisted steering.
Many newer vehicles use it now.
Particularly in some new Kias, you can still easily turn the steering wheel for a few seconds after you shut the engine off.
Yep cobalts have no steering flyid what so ever replaced it myself
You heartless pig
beautifulmicia U got owned.