GM Does It Again.....

Gofirstclass

Gofirstclass

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Apr 20, 2010
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From the Washington Post, 12/30/2011..........

GM Sonic Recall.JPEG-054e9.jpg



DETROIT — General Motors Co. is recalling more than 4,000 of its 2012 Chevrolet Sonic subcompact cars to check for missing brake pads.
Some Sonics could be missing an inner or outer brake pad, which could increase stopping distance. GM said there are no known crashes or injuries related to the issue.

The recall involves 4,296 of GM’s 2012 Sonics sold in the U.S. Affected models are from the Orion Township, Mich., assembly plant, which makes Sonics for the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Dealers will inspect front brakes on Sonics for missing inner or outer pads and install new pads, if necessary. Customers affected by the recall will receive dealer letters beginning Jan. 14.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is this just another fine piece of work by Gubmint Motors. Must be more of dem fine union-built pieces of crap.

Sorry, but how in the hell can you make a car that passes the final inspection at the end of the assembly line AND IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE BRAKE PADS????

Shakin' my head over this one.
 
Um... Detroit we have a problem... I agree how do you ship out a car with no brakes...
 
Gee is that grinding sound common? Why yes on these models. We keep the cost down by not installing all the brake parts. There is a slight increase in price if you would like the car to stop in a timely manner. :smt119
 
I saw this earlier and was waiting to see how long it took for someone to bring it up. Yep, I have defended GM here a time or two from the American Car bashers but this is ridiculous.

Not that this makes up for it but considering I did once work at an auto plant (not GM) , I have a feeling that whole assembly (steering rack) is basically "pre assembled", with discs, calipers and everything else already assembled in a single unit. They basically roll it in on a rack and bolt it all on. So it is probably not like someone in the assembly line just "forgot" to put brake pads on before they installed the calipers. This mistake likely occured in a pre-assembly area or by a supplier; maybe even a robot. But again, that is no excuse for a complete absence of QA on an essential system.

I still stand by the GM vehicles I own and have owned or been issued by an employer for the past 15 years. None have been the "el-cheapo" cars though like the "Sonic" that are supposed to compete with the Korean cars either. I have never had and doubts the low end GM cars are crap and this just proves that again. In fact pretty much all low end cars are crap except for probably the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. I would not want to drive either one very far or see one get hit in a crash but they do seem to run forever.
 
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In fact pretty much all low end cars are crap except for probably the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. I would not want to drive either one very far or see one get hit in a crash but they do seem to run forever.


I disagree, in 2000 i walked into Hyundai and bought an elantra, drove it home an hour later . that car Never saw the dealership again, it took a bad hit, and my 21 yr old 11 yrs later to take it out . I gave my 2005 altima to my daughter with 125,000 miles on it and would drive that car cross country. I will never buy a midsized or smaller american car again. We have an expedition which has been pretty reliable and two German autos now. All they need is synthetic oil every year, thats reliablity and craftsmanship period.
 
Guess the guy that installs the pads took a few days off of work. But how in the hell do you drive a car with no front pads someone must have noticed this problem.

I drive a Buick, love it have been driving them since 1997 and have not had one problem with any of them. My next vehicle will be a Lincoln MKX love the look of them and friends that have them have not had any problems.

The 2006, 2007 and 2008 Civic 1.8 are junk. The blocks were cast from used material and are very porous big dollars to fix.

Every car manufacture has it's lemons some don't seem to every learn.

Ken
 
Speaking of GM, I heard a good one today.....


"Don't think of it as a Chevy Volt...

Think of it as a $45,000 Pinto!!!"

Yeah, that makes the Chevy Volt all better now. By the way, how much does that "Instant Fire" option on the Volt cost, or is that included in the base price of the car?
 
And how about 550,000 toyotas being recalled last month, and, all the recalls they had in 09...............:grin:
 
"Some Sonics could be missing an inner or outer brake pad, which could increase stopping distance."


Go figure. :huh:

LK
 
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As a GM retiree I DO NOT Condone nor except or even understand how this happened and it is unacceptable. However I must point out to all the haters out there that in years 2009-2011 the automobile company with the MOST recalls some of which included DEATHS was Toyota.

I have owned 25 GM cars and trucks and never had one that had any major recalls nor did they have anything major that needed to go back to the dealer for.

Just sayin...........
 
No matter what brand it is the issue happened on the assembly line. Most line workers are taught one or two station before and after their station so they can see how the part should look that has just been installed before they install their parts. Looks like the subassembly was wrong and the main assembly either did not check the subassembly or didn't understand what should have been included in the subassembly.

This may be contributed to poor training on both the subassembly and main assembly line. It's very unusual for both lines to miss these parts. This can happen on first run assemblies of new models if the installers were not trained properly. Thats why the final inspection is critical on new models or first runs.

It's a common practice in our business to take random first runs off the line and completely dissassemble them to check line and part quality. We have a team that is dedicated to this process.

We have had recalls on vendor and design issues but very few assembly issues.
 
worst problems usually happen during labor disputes
it used to amaze me the stuff we found that was totally intentional.
 
So, if you were used to seeing axle/front suspension assemblies every day for 15 years, would you be conscious enough to notice a missing brake pad, or would you simply see the caliper and move on to the next item?

There's a reason we have QA/QC processes. People aren't perfect. Sounds like the sub-assembly line or the supplier might have had a run where the pads got missed.

By the way, the hatred for the Detroit three needs to stop. They, directly or indirectly, are responsible for 10-15% of the US manufacturing, total, and whether you like them or not, their success is part of the engine of our economy.

I lived in Detroit for a year and saw first-hand what those systems are like. Knowing the folks on the lines, brake pads would be something that would be easily overlooked if you knew how the cars come down the lines.

I know our company isn't perfect; we shouldn't expect others to be either regardless if they received taxpayer assistance or not.
 
Gofirstclass said:
Speaking of GM, I heard a good one today.....


"Don't think of it as a Chevy Volt...

Think of it as a $45,000 Pinto!!!"

Yeah, that makes the Chevy Volt all better now. By the way, how much does that "Instant Fire" option on the Volt cost, or is that included in the base price of the car?
Click to expand...

Not to target, but this is FALSE, and unfair. The fires have only occurred WEEKS after crash testing, and in each case the battery wasn't drained per GM instructions post-incident.

I'm not saying the Volt is the best car around, but pushing it as the next Pinto is completely off-base.
 
Sea Ray 215 said:
As a GM retiree I DO NOT Condone nor except or even understand how this happened and it is unacceptable. However I must point out to all the haters out there that in years 2009-2011 the automobile company with the MOST recalls some of which included DEATHS was Toyota.

I have owned 25 GM cars and trucks and never had one that had any major recalls nor did they have anything major that needed to go back to the dealer for.

Just sayin...........
Click to expand...

Thanks for bringing this up. It amazes me that the foreign car lovers (A.K.A. USA haters) seem to forget that Toyota hit this for years, this problem started with the first electric throttle cars they put out. I didn't see the media till last year, but that is OK for the foreign car manufactures, they always get the free pass. Yet they continued to kill and paralyze American without a recall till the US government forced, some one from Toyota leadership should go to federal prison over trying to hide this.

The domestics, once a safety issue is identified step up to the plate and get the recall going on their own from what I have seen. I guess American based company looking out for the safety of their customers, where as the foreign manufacturer came off as not caring at all.

Just pointing this stuff out to all the USA haters.
 
230CC said:
Thanks for bringing this up. It amazes me that the foreign car lovers (A.K.A. USA haters) seem to forget that Toyota hit this for years, this problem started with the first electric throttle cars they put out. I didn't see the media till last year, but that is OK for the foreign car manufactures, they always get the free pass. Yet they continued to kill and paralyze American without a recall till the US government forced, some one from Toyota leadership should go to federal prison over trying to hide this.

The domestics, once a safety issue is identified step up to the plate and get the recall going on their own from what I have seen. I guess American based company looking out for the safety of their customers, where as the foreign manufacturer came off as not caring at all.

Just pointing this stuff out to all the USA haters.
Click to expand...
Don't forget about thousands of Toyota truck frames completely rusting to the point that they break in half!



I still don't see how any vehicle could get all the way to the customer missing a brake pad:huh: It would have to grind:smt021
 
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