Recalls
| Campaign | Manufacturer | Manufacturing date | Type | # of units affected | Date Owner notified Mfg | Recall Initiated by | Manufacturers of recalled vehicles/products | Report Recieved Date | Record Creation Date | Regulation Part Number | FMVSS Number | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STEERING - RACK AND PINION | ||||||||||||||||
| 02V286000 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | from 04/01/1996 to 08/31/1997 | V (Vehicle) | 1159156 | 01/24/2003 | ODI | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 11/04/2002 | 11/06/2002 | |||||||
| Defect Summary | Certain passenger vehicles and mini vans have lower pinion bearings in the power rack and pinion assembly in which the retainer tabs were not crimped properly. these and some other retainers used in vehicles assembled between january 1, 1996 and october 31, 1997, could fail and permit the ball bearings to escape. | |||||||||||||||
| Consequence Summary | If this occurs, the pinion shaft can be forced upward during left turns and back down as the steering wheel is moved back and to the right. if the pinion shaft moves further, the driver will need to exert more effort to turn the steering wheel, similar to a vehicle without power assisted steering. if the pinion shaft moves even further, the driver will require much higher effort to turn left and may not be able to turn the wheel as much as intended. with the maximum pinion shaft movement, which requires internal gear component damage, the driver can encounter high resistance to turning left, followed by unintended power assist to the right. in any of these conditions, a crash could occur. | |||||||||||||||
| Corrective Summary | Dealers will install a new lower pinion bearing unless inspect of the existing bearing indicates that replacement of the gear assembly is necessary. owner notification began january 24, 2003. owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact chevrolet at 1-800-222-1020, pontiac at 1-800-762-2737, or oldsmobile at 1-800-442-6537. | |||||||||||||||
| Notes | Gm recall no. 02049.also, customers can contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-dash-2-dot (1-888-327-4236). | |||||||||||||||
Investigations
| NHTSA ID | Manufacturer | Date open | Date close | Subject | Recall campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STEERING | ||||||
| EA02003 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 04/04/2002 | 12/10/2002 | POWER RACK AND PINION STEERING FAILURE | 02V286000 | |
| The lower pinion bearing in the rack and pinion steering assembly may fail.gm will recall 1997-98 grand prix built between 1-mar-96 and 31-oct-97; and 1996-98 u-vans/j-cars built between 1-jan-96 and 31-oct-97.see attached summary. | ||||||
| STEERING - RACK AND PINION | ||||||
| EA02003 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 04/04/2002 | 12/10/2002 | POWER RACK AND PINION STEERING FAILURE | 02V286000 | |
| The lower pinion bearing in the rack and pinion steering assembly may fail.gm will recall 1997-98 grand prix built between 1-mar-96 and 31-oct-97; and 1996-98 u-vans/j-cars built between 1-jan-96 and 31-oct-97.see attached summary. | ||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEERING | |||
| 10/26/2003 | 119000 | 1 | |
| No steering control. steering wheel spins freely. internal power steering gear problem. *la | |||
| 07/28/2003 | 1 | 06/16/2001 | |
| The steering on our 1997 pontiac transport montana is very hard. i noticed this earlier this week. while driving, when i wanted to turn it takes a lot of effort to make a turn now, and the passenger side rear sliding door still comes open sometimes after you close it. it seems as if it's going to close and then it would just open. i know my husband took the car in for repair and they said it was a recall on these two things and they were fixed, but it still seems as if the problem is there. *ph | |||
| STEERING - GEAR BOX (OTHER THAN RACK AND PINION) | |||
| 03/21/2002 | 1 | ||
| While turning left, front wheel would not turn, steering was popping. vehicle had to be towed. defect in gear was the cause per dealership.*akconsumer had to run into the curb to avoid traffic. *jg | |||
| STEERING - HYDRAULIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM | |||
| 07/06/2003 | 51000 | 1 | |
| The power steering pressure line malfunctioned, which caused the vehicle to be uncontrollable when driving. the vehicle was taken to the dealership where the cause had not been determined. please provide additional information. *jb | |||
| 09/08/2002 | 05/01/2000 | ||
| Steering locks up while trying to turn vehicle to the left. power steering seems to push vehicle to the right. occurs at any speed. | |||
| 11/15/2001 | 1 | 06/01/2097 | |
| I am filing this complaint because, even though we no longer own the vehicle, i understand that you are investigating it. i was lucky that no one was hurt. i had three children in the car, driving them to school, when the steering just gave out while we were in the middle of rush hour traffic; fortunately it was on a city street, so we weren't travelling very fast. i was able to get the vehicle pushed over to the side of the road and out of the way of traffic. the vehicle was taken to a pontiac dealer for repairs, which totalled well over $1000. the dealer said that they were not a aware of any problems like this with the vehicle. since the vehicle had just passed 60,000 it was noo longer under warranty for this type of problem. we called gm, and they insisted that they were not aware of this type of problem, and confirmed that the repair would not be covered by warranty. they did give us a discount off of the purchase of our next gm car, because of this and all of the other problems we had with the vehicle, includ ing rearseats that did not work properly - they wouldn't stay locked into the floor, and a just a nice little shove from behind would knock them out of the floor. if you are still investigating this, keep at it. i hate to think about what might have happened if i was on the freeway travelling 70 mph during rush hour and the steering just quit.*ak | |||
| STEERING - LINKAGES - KNUCKLE - SPINDLE - ARM | |||
| 07/24/2005 | 1 | 09/12/2004 | |
| Dt: the consumer states the right and left steering knuckles were cracked, right where the tie rod knuckle connects. the consumer was doing an oil change when he noticed the problem. the dealership was called to find out if there were any recalls. the consumer thinks because they are made of aluminum, it has happened because of old age. *jb | |||
| STEERING - RACK AND PINION | |||
| 07/12/2005 | 124504 | 1 | 12/17/2004 |
| I was turning the steering wheel to the left to parallel park next to the curb, then i heard a loud pop noise. when i went to turn the steering wheel to the right it began very hard to turn the wheel. after leaving the store and from that point on every attempt i made to make a right turn, it was extremely difficult. after arriving home i noticed leaking coming from under my van. i called the location pontiac dealership about the my steering problem and they indicated that the van had been serviced for a recall in february of 2003 for the rack and pinion recall something related to the steering. so i checked the internet for the recall and it mentioned the same exactly problems that i was having now. i called the dealership back and they said that the recall was already done once. i told them it is doing the same exactly thing, and when i went to check the steering one more time i noticed a huge puddle under my van of reddish brown fluid. come to find out it was transmission leaking and when i turn the engine on the fluid came pouring out like a faucet. i contacted a transmission shop to take a look at my van and the mechanic told me that the axle was pulled out of the transmission by the steering system. the mechanic also mentioned that he has done quite a few of these same exactly kind of mini-van with the same exactly problem. he said that he knew exactly how the fix this problem because he does it quite often. the repair costed $1,800.00 dollars and the mechanic told me now i need to take back to the dealer to have them repair that rack and pinion again. now this has me very upset, i'm so mad about this because this definitely sounds like a manufacture problem and i should not have to pay for this. i sent the van to karco tranmissions in lancaster, california where i live and the phone number is 661-723-1164. this does not make any sense to me, so this is why i am filing this complaint. | |||
| 11/10/2004 | 3 | 02/01/2004 | |
| Todays date- dec 15th, 2004.have had 1997 pontiac transport for almost 1 yr. i just found out today that the rack and pinion are going to have to be replaced, along with the thermostat and water pump.*ak regarding operation of the rack & pinion, the trouble started about a month ago. i first noticed problems w/the steering while backing out. i thought it might have been power steering, checked the fluid and it was full. not terrible problems, but little enough to notice something was not right. it has now gotten a little worse, so i had it looked at and was told the terrible news just this very day. | |||
| 11/23/2003 | 74000 | 3 | 05/30/1997 |
| Since having the rack/pinion steering replaced twice (once before the recall and once after), i have again noticed difficulty pulling out of parking spaces turning left or right (hard to turn the wheel/loss of power steering?), especially, in cold weather. as you straighten wheel and start driving, problem seems to resolve itself. went to dealer who thought it could not possibly be the rack so therefore replaced the power steering pump in early november. the failure happened again today. *la | |||
| 02/13/2003 | 1 | ||
| Nhtsa 02-v-286000 consumer received a recall notice regarding the rack and pinion, however the dealer stated the tools to correct the problem were broke.*jb | |||
| 01/27/2003 | 1 | ||
| No parts were available regarding the recall for the steering rack and pinion.*jb | |||
| 09/08/2002 | 05/01/2000 | ||
| Steering locks up while trying to turn vehicle to the left. power steering seems to push vehicle to the right. occurs at any speed. | |||
| 04/30/2002 | 1 | 03/01/2098 | |
| While driving at 40mph steering momentarily locked up. vehicle then locked up making left hand turn. had to pull steering wheel a few degrees to the right to free up bind. took vehicle to pontiac dealership, and was told that rack and pinion had failed and needed to be replaced. was also informed that the rack and pinion failure destroyed the air bag coil which had to be replaced. | |||
| 02/15/2002 | 1 | 03/01/2097 | |
| Problem #1 - seat belts. four out of the seven seat belts in the car have failed. specifically the retraction system. four out of seven going bad to me, means this is not an isolated failure. i'm concern about the other 3 working if in an accident. dealers contacted want to charge me $800 - $1000 to fix four seat belts. need to get it fixed, but nothing to believe i won't be asking that same dealer to fix the other 3 seat belts when they go bad too. dealers say high cost of repair is directly attributed to the cost of parts. unlike an alternator, or other engine component, the seat belt assembly is sole sourced from one manufacturer. locked in to a non-competitive price (and obviously over inflated). problem #2 - rack and pinon steering. i noticed on your web site what i believe to be the same problem under pontiac transports. basically told by dealer the rack and pinon steering system is bad. out of warranty, so big bucks. have had to pay quite a bit in dealer repair bills already on vehical. for example, problems with automatic sliding door, windshield wipers, back hatch, side window, push buttons on door arm rest, air conditioning.....also poor design with plastic parts in high stressed point areas.*ak | |||
| 07/19/2000 | 1 | 06/01/2097 | |
| The steering completely locked up without warning. fortunately i was just pulling out of a parking place in a shopping center, so there was no other accident or activity envolved. i payed to have the rack & pinion unit replaced and have had no further problem. i read the other day that your organization was conducting an engineering investigation on steering lockup problems for certain gmc models. among these models listed was my 97 pontiac transport so i thought i would report my experience.*ak | |||
| 11/21/2001 | |||
| Rack and pinion steering broke while backing out, vehicle started to hesitate, and then all power steering fluid ran out. contacted dealer, and dealer stated that consumer needed to replace rack and pinion. please add vin . *ak | |||
| 09/05/2001 | |||
| While driving 40 mph consumer tried to make a left hand turn and vehicle would not turn. only able to go straight or make right hand turns. dealer replaced rack and pinion.*ak | |||
| STEERING - RACK AND PINION - PINION SHAFT | |||
| 05/22/2005 | 79884 | 1 | 03/15/1997 |
| The steering rack failed on my 1997 pontiac transport approx 14 months after it was recalled and a pinon bearing changed in the rack. the original recall was performed in order to prevent the bearing failure and subsequent locking of the steering rack on left hand turns. the recall failed because the bearing failed ( 14 months after it was changed out). the failure of the steering rack could have caused a severe accident if conditions were right. fortunatly no persons were injured when the steering locked up | |||
| STEERING - RACK AND PINION - RACK | |||
| 01/01/2000 | 1 | ||
| The steering wheel malfunctioned and noisy due to rack failure. yh | |||