Investigations
| NHTSA ID | Manufacturer | Date open | Date close | Subject | Recall campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL | ||||||
| EA09002 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 01/14/2009 | 05/11/2010 | Electronic Stability Control | 10V172000 | |
| On april 26, 2010, at nhtsa's request following this investigation, general motors submitted a defect information report to nhtsa to correct a defect associated with the vehicle stability control (vsc) system in approximately 40,000 model year (my) 2005 and 2006 chevrolet corvette vehicles (nhtsa recall no. 10v-172).according to the report, these vehicles may have a problem with the steering wheel position sensor (swps) connector created by a fretting condition in the connector (small movement of the pins back and forth creating a residue build up) which could change the electrical resistance and corrupt the information signal to the vsc computer.the vsc system uses the information from the swps to calculate the driver's intended vehicle direction; this information is cross referenced to sensors that tell the system which direction the vehicle is actually going and the system will, if it determines a variance indicating the vehicle is in a over-steer or under-steer condition, reduce throttle control and apply braking to make a correction in vehicle direction towards what the system believes is the driver's intended path.gm dealers will inspect the swps connector of recalled vehicles and, if necessary, install a terminal position assurance clip to the connector.gm has advised nhtsa that its position is that the inappropriate activations of the vsc system do not present an unreasonable risk to safety because gm believes that the activations are low in occurrence, a rare set of conditions would need to be present, the driver has the ability to maintain direction control if the alleged condition were to occur, and that there are no reports of injuries.nhtsa does not agree.based on interviews with complainants and testing performed at the nhtsa vehicle research and testing center in east liberty, ohio, odi believes that the majority of the unwarranted activations of the vsc system occur when turning, in such scenarios as travelling highway entrance or exit ramps or in street traffic conditions.complainants report the effect produced by the malfunction of the vsc system is sudden unexpected braking and in some cases a sudden unexpected change in vehicle direction which some complainants indicate was sufficient to cause a movement into an adjoining lane of traffic or in some cases into curbing or stationary objects.during the vsc event the brake lights of the corvette are not illuminated, depriving trailing traffic from indication that braking is occurring and some complainants indicate the braking effect can be severe and last up to 10 seconds in length.based on available information odi counts four crashes due to a malfunction of the vsc system; gm is counting one crash due to the problem.in these circumstances nhtsa believes the defect presents an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety, and so advised gm when requesting this recall.this investigation is closed based on gm's recall. | ||||||
| PE08056 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 09/17/2008 | 01/14/2009 | ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL MALFUNCTION | ||
| On september 17, 2008, odi opened preliminary evaluation pe08-056 to investigate allegations of inappropriate activation of the electronic stability control (esc) system in model year (my) 2005 and 2006 chevrolet corvette vehicles.some reports received by odi and some reports to general motors (gm) contained in gm's response to pe08-056 allege that the esc system malfunctioned causing a sudden and inappropriate braking action without illumination of the brake lights and causing the vehicle to swerve left or right unexpectedly. gm issued a technical service bulletin in january 2006, later revised in october 2007 (bulletin no. 06-02-35-002b) concerning esc problems in my 2005 and 2006 chevrolet corvette vehicles with the telescoping steering wheel option.the bulletin was intended to correct a fretting corrosion problem with the steering wheel position sensor connector c202. an engineering analysis has been opened (ea09-002) to continue to asses the scope, frequency, and safety-related consequences of the alleged defect. | ||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL | |||
| 03/01/2009 | 12000 | 1 | |
| I own a 2006 corvette manufactured in february of 2006. from early 2009 (just prior to the vehicle going out of warranty) i began experiencing problems with the service active handling system (sahs) warning light coming on. initially this occurred when the vehicle was making a turn or when it hit a bump on the highway and the warning would clear itself periodically. i took the vehicle in to two separate chevrolet dealerships (groth bros. chevrolet, livermore, ca and dublin chevrolet cadillac, dublin, ca). neither facility was able to definitively diagnose or correct the problem. dublin chevrolet cadillac did perform the recall service in which they added a retention clip to the wiring harness in the tilt/telescopic steering column. they performed this repair at my insistence and at a cost to me because my vehicle was manufactured the month after the last manufacturing month of the recall. the addition of the retention clip remedied the problem temporarily but it did return. the sahs warning now comes on and stays on nearly all the time. i have significant concerns over the fact that gm has been unable to definitively determine the cause of the problem especially now that i have learned that many owners of 2005/2006 corvettes have had a related issue with the front brakes locking up. i have not experienced this phenomenon yet but believe that it probably will eventually occur. i brought all of this to the attention of gm?s corporate service complaint department, asking that they find a way to repair the vehicle once and for all, at their expense, in light of the fact that it began at the time the warranty was ending. the request was denied. *tr | |||
| 03/01/2009 | 12000 | ||
| I own a 2006 corvette manufactured in february of 2006. from early 2009 (just prior to the vehicle going out of warranty) i began experiencing problems with the service active handling system (sahs) warning light coming on. initially this occurred when the vehicle was making a turn or when it hit a bump on the highway and the warning would clear itself periodically. i took the vehicle in to two separate chevrolet dealerships (groth bros. chevrolet, livermore, ca and dublin chevrolet cadillac, dublin, ca). neither facility was able to definitively diagnose or correct the problem. dublin chevrolet cadillac did perform the recall service in which they added a retention clip to the wiring harness in the tilt/telescopic steering column. they performed this repair at my insistence and at a cost to me because my vehicle was manufactured the month after the last manufacturing month of the recall. the addition of the retention clip remedied the problem temporarily but it did return. the sahs warning now comes on and stays on nearly all the time. i have significant concerns over the fact that gm has been unable to definitively determine the cause of the problem especially now that i have learned that many owners of 2005/2006 corvettes have had a related issue with the front brakes locking up. i have not experienced this phenomenon yet but believe that it probably will eventually occur. i brought all of this to the attention of gm | |||
| 11/07/2012 | 20000 | 1 | |
| On wednesday 7 nov 2012, i was driving home from work at approx 4:30pm and while changing lanes (from the rh lane to the lh lane, to make a left turn in approx half a mile) when the front driver's side tires popped and i spun, crossed the median, cross two southbound lanes, struck an electricity pole, spun again and finally came to rest on the sidewalk & grass. neither stability control nor traction control activated once the car began to spin (counter clockwise) which created an uncontrollable and unrecoverable spin. the failure of these systems activate and operate properly could have killed me and destroyed the car. both systems were fully operational and on. also, the side airbag did not deploy when the impacted the pole on the driver's side door. *tr | |||
| 11/07/2012 | 20000 | ||
| On wednesday 7 nov 2012, i was driving home from work at approx 4:30pm and while changing lanes (from the rh lane to the lh lane, to make a left turn in approx half a mile) when the front driver's side tired popped and i spun, crossed the median, cross two southbound lanes, struck an electricity pole, spun again and finally came to rest on the sidewalk & grass. neither stability control nor traction control activated once the car began to spin (counter clockwise) which created an uncontrollable and unrecoverable spin. the failure of these systems activate and operate properly could have killed me and destroyed the car. both systems were fully operational and on. also, the side airbag did not deploy when the impacted the pole on the driver's side door. | |||
| 09/20/2007 | 14200 | ||
| Frequently service active handling indicator comes on and stability control is disabled. has been taken in for service several times over the past 5 years, but problem has never been fixed by dealer. the last 2 times this happened a front wheel locked up for a few seconds causing car to abruptly swerve. | |||
| 07/17/2011 | 16558 | ||
| The service active handling system warning activates on my dash and car drives erratic. if i pull of the road and turn car off and then turn the car back on, the system will reset itself. unfortunately the warning re-activates a day or so later. the car only has 16,500 miles on it. | |||
| 03/05/2011 | 48000 | ||
| When driving the service active handling system warning light appears on the dash. i have had the original recall fix performed on my car (orange/red clip) and had the steering wheel positioning sensor replaced. the problem is now back again. | |||
| 05/30/2011 | 34660 | ||
| I own a 2006 corvette and while driving on highway 270 in germantown, md the right front wheel of the car locked up for no reason. i was not braking turning or changing speed. i was cruising at a constant 60 mph when it all of a sudden locked up the front right wheel. it caused the car to run off the road into the shoulder! i was very lucky to be exactly where i was at the time or someone may have been killed! i looked into gm recall info and found there has been 3 different fixes for this problem. i also found that 2 of the 3 fixes have been done to this car by the previous owner and neither fix has worked. i am bringing the car into the dealer tomorrow after some quick research i found this problem to be very common to the 2005-2008 corvettes. i can't believe gm has done nothing about this! | |||
| 03/05/2011 | 48000 | ||
| When driving the service active handling system warning light appears on the dash. i have had the original recall fix performed on my car (orange/red clip) and had the steering wheel positioning sensor replaced. the problem is now back again. | |||
| 05/30/2011 | 34660 | ||
| I own a 2006 corvette and while driving on highway 270 in germantown, md the right front wheel of the car locked up for no reason. i was not braking turning or changing speed. i was cruising at a constant 60 mph when it all of a sudden locked up the front right wheel. it caused the car to run off the road into the shoulder! i was very lucky to be exactly where i was at the time or someone may have been killed! i looked into gm recall info and found there has been 3 different fixes for this problem. i also found that 2 of the 3 fixes have been done to this car by the previous owner and neither fix has worked. i am bringing the car into the dealer tomorrow after some quick research i found this problem to be very common to the 2005-2008 corvettes. i can't believe gm has done nothing about this! | |||
| 03/05/2011 | 48000 | ||
| When driving the service active handling system warning light appears on the dash. i have had the original recall fix performed on my car (orange/red clip) and had the steering wheel positioning sensor replaced. the problem is now back again. | |||
| 05/30/2011 | 34660 | ||
| I own a 2006 corvette and while driving on highway 270 in germantown, md the right front wheel of the car locked up for no reason. i was not braking turning or changing speed. i was cruising at a constant 60 mph when it all of a sudden locked up the front right wheel. it caused the car to run off the road into the shoulder! i was very lucky to be exactly where i was at the time or someone may have been killed! i looked into gm recall info and found there has been 3 different fixes for this problem. i also found that 2 of the 3 fixes have been done to this car by the previous owner and neither fix has worked. i am bringing the car into the dealer tomorrow after some quick research i found this problem to be very common to the 2005-2008 corvettes. i can't believe gm has done nothing about this! | |||
| 09/06/2006 | 65500 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet corvette. the contact stated the vehicle had a recurring failure with the stability control immediately after 6,500 miles. the vehicle was taken to the dealer for the failure, numerous times but the dealer stated the vehicle was normal; however, the failure became severe. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 48,000 and the current mileage was 47,750. | |||
| 04/04/2011 | 79000 | ||
| 2006 chevrolet corvette 79,000 miles, service active handling light comes on the display and also the traction control light at same time, once the rear wheel seized at 5mph, i was told by other corvette owners that this was a problem with 2005-2009 corvettes with tilt and telescopic steering column , however my car only has tilt steering and the problem seems to be the same as the recall that general motors applied to the cars with tilt and telescopic steering column | |||
| 08/01/2010 | 17500 | ||
| I drive a 2006 chevy corvette. i was driving out of a gas station when i applied some extra gas, giving the car some unwanted acceleration as i turned. the active handling sign lit up and the car bucked from left to right, and back again. thankfully i was on a wide road and was able to come to a stop without injury to myself or others (or the car). afterwards, a message popped up reading service active handling system and did not go away until i had shut the car off for a while. the problem has not happened since, but it did worry me enough to share the story here. hope it helps. | |||
| 01/06/2010 | 33000 | ||
| My son ownes a 2006 corvette c6. he was driving for 2 years when his car went out of control and suffered a trraumatic brain injury, in a coma for 6 months. his car had a service traction stability control indecation on the dic twice within a 30 day period. he was quick to service this warning immediately with the chevrolet dealership as the car was under warrenty. now i understand there is a real problem with the traction stability control for 2006 corvette and gm has now issued a recall. to late my son has brain damage. | |||
| 10/14/2010 | 15000 | ||
| While driving my 2006 corvette with 15,000 miles it sudenly veared to the right pulling the car off the road. the check stability control system came on the in dash computer. | |||
| 08/28/2009 | 14459 | ||
| Back in 2007 i took my 2006 corvette in to have it serviced because i had a message come up that said to service active handling system. there ended up being a recall on this and it was fixed. this lasted for just over a year and the message came up again, i went by the dealer who did the work and they said they would have to charge me for fixing it again because it had been over a year. my question is; has chevrolet got a fix for this or just a bandaied? i have read that this can be a dangerous situation. | |||
| 04/01/2010 | 22000 | ||
| I have a 2006 corvette and the service active handling message is displayed on my dic. when this message is diplayed it also turns off my traction control. this message displays about once every three times i drive the car. i have about 28k miles on the vehicle. i have noticed the message since about 22k. the message would go off so i didn't worry about it. now that i have done some research, i can tell this is a serious problem. i have also noticed that i have a lite clicking noise in the rear when i 'm driving slow. i have no idea if this is related to this service active handling issue that everyone is experiencing. and after doing research i'm one of the lucky one that have not felt the repercusions of this defect. i refer to repercussions as wrecking my vehicle, hurting someone else, or hurting myself. based on the seriousness of this problem gm should conduct a recall of the corvettes that are affected by this issue. on behalf of the all corvette owners please look into this issue, before anyone gets seriously injuried or killed. | |||
| 10/12/2009 | 25000 | 1 | |
| 2006 corvette without telescoping wheel. service active handling and service traction control lights show on dash display. random pop up when driving, sitting at stop lights, idling. car has gone into limp mode. car has an electronic malfunction history dating back to 10/08 and is now beginning to do the same thing. *tr | |||
| 07/09/2009 | 19100 | 1 | |
| My 2006 corvette has problems with the active handling system. the car has been taken back to the dealer 3 times when the service active handling system message appears on the dic. the dealer fix is only short term before the problem reappears. i feel that this could be a major safety issue and needs immediate attention. thank-you. *tr | |||
| 07/29/2009 | 56000 | 1 | |
| I have a 2006 corvette, the service active handling message came on while driving . i carried it to my dealer and they installed a clip in the steering column and charged $130. *tr | |||
| 06/24/2009 | 14100 | 1 | |
| From time to time i receive a driver information center (dic) message service active handling system. i have researched this message and have found there is a technical service bulletin issued by gm covering this issue. i have reseated the connector on the steering column outlined by the tsb eliminating the dic message for a few months when the message then returns. while this problem has not resulted in catastrophic failure, it has the potential to do so. i am concerned about this dic message and the potential that active handling could be compromised in such a way that the driver of our vehicle could loose control resulting in an accident. odi investigation # ea09-002. *tr | |||
| 08/14/2008 | 13050 | 1 | |
| Message of service active handling comes up in display while driving. usually during or after making turn. message does not appear when car is restarted. it will appear at odd times without warning or noise. *tr | |||
| 03/05/2009 | 18000 | 1 | 11/01/2008 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet corvette. while attempting to make a small u-turn at 5 mph, the contact heard a loud banging noise near the rear of the vehicle. he noticed that the electronic control warning indicator was illuminated on the instrument panel. at anytime while driving, unwarranted brake activation could occur and increase the risk of a crash. the contact is in the process of taking the vehicle to the dealer to have it properly diagnosed and remedied. the failure and current mileages were 18,000. updated 5/14/09 *cn updated 05/14/09.*jb | |||
| 10/08/2008 | 23900 | 1 | |
| Driving back from lunch to the office i was changing lanes on a heavily traffic area. was going about 30mph when the car started to fish tail out of control going sideways into the side of the road and slamming into a electrical post. both myself and my passenger were in awe. i could not control the car and it seems eventhough i took my foot off the gas it kept increasing. the hit was so hard it damaged the post and the car severely. i still do not know what happened since it has traction control it should have never fishtailed and at that low speed. no tire marks or any sign of acceleration were found. i am trying to find answers to what happened. its scary. *tr | |||
| 07/06/2007 | 9500 | 1 | |
| Attention needed!! active handling system very dangerous failure mode!!! driving at 50mph the active handling system suddenly (and very violently) locks up both front and rear passenger wheels, bringing the car to a halt while throwing the vehicle to the left lane. the dealership said since they couldn't duplicate the event or find a computer code to verify, then can do nothing to help me. this is a very dangerous failure mode!! very easily i could have killed a pedestrian / motorcyclist in the lane to my left!!! *tr | |||
| 05/04/2008 | 11800 | 1 | |
| I was driving on interstate 40 going around 75mph when my car jumped to the right about 4 feet and then my brakes went crazy. it felt like i had 4 flat tires. i managed to pull to the shoulder and when i was stopped i noticed my service active handling warning was on. i had to disable the active handling to finish my trip. it was a good thing it was early in the morning or i would have wreck if there were other cars on the road. i took the car to the dealership and they replaced the active handling brake module. i have never had any problems with the car until this happened. this really scared me and i believed it should be checked out. *tr | |||