WARNING! GM ABS Recall is flawed!

larry arizona · March 1, 2006

Bad News everyone!

As everyone knows the Low speed ABS recall was issued late in 2005. My 2002 Z71 had the abs failure at 50K miles and I replaced both Hub assemblies and ABS sensors on my own dime ( this was pre-recall). By the way I used Genuine GM parts.

Now 14K miles later my ABS are failing again. Truck will not stop under slow speed braking. Obviously this is VERY dangerous.

This time I took it to the dealer under the recall. The dealer replaced the sensors ONLY. This did not fix the ABS failure. The Driver bearing is bad and the sensor can't read the hall effect from the bearing/hub.

GM will not cover the bearing. However after a lot of discussion with GM customer service, they are talking to the dealer to try to find resolution.

In the mean time my truck is not fixed and here is the worst part.

The driver bearing is so bad after only 14K miles that there is 1 inch of play in the bearing. It is SHOT! The dealer highly recommended that I not even drive it home 2 miles for fear the wheel could fall off. I limped it home and I got another new bearing assembly on the way and I will be yet again replacing this on my dime.

The truck is undriveable. The scary part is you can't tell the bearing is that sloppy without having the front end jacked up off the ground.

Do yourself a favor and check your bearing endplay periodically. Obviously they can go bad as early as 14K miles. So check them often and make sure you do it with the wheels in the air. There should be nearly ZERO detectable play.

I have submitted a complaint to NHTSA as the saftey issue was not resolved with the current GM/NHTSA sponsored Recall # 05V37900 and 05-068. The law clearly states that the manufacturer is responsible for resolving a known recalled failure mode.

I will post results of this investigation as I get information.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had similar results with this recall campaign.

larry arizona · March 6, 2006

UPDATE,

After fixing the driver bearing the truck is once again working. GM customer service after a ton of arguing has agreed to cover my truck for an additional 100,000 miles (until 166,000 miles) for the wheel bearing and sensors if anything goes bad again. They also included my wife's 2002 Tahoe for an additional 100,000 miles (until 146,000 miles) and they are also sending me a customer loyalty bonus for $3400 off on the purchase of my next GM vehicle.

Although the bearing is still a problem, I am pleased that GM stepped up on my vehicles and are covering any future bearing/ABS failures.

sonjaab · March 6, 2006

Larry.....Do ya think the stealer improperly installed your

bearing assembly when they fixed it the first time????????

...............geo

sgiangregorio · March 6, 2006

Also, I'm pretty sure that if you pay for a repair, that ends up being a recall, you will be reimbursed by GM. You do need to supply your invoice.

jhm · March 6, 2006

Larry.....Do ya think the stealer improperly installed your
bearing assembly when they fixed it the first time????????

...............geo

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unless I missed something, he said HE replaced the hubs and sensors, then 14k later he has more problems. I hope this is just an isolated incident, never heard of the hubs going bad by anyone else here. When the dealer checked mine for the recall, I talked to the tech who did it and he said almost all just get cleaned and reassembled. I know since he did it, I don't get that annoying ABS chatter everytime I stop on a road with a dusting of snow on it. Sounds like GM was fair in Larrys case.

mnl119 · March 6, 2006

Were the 2003 Yukon XL's included in this recall?

larry arizona · March 7, 2006

My Customer rep called back with bad news.

GM reneged on there original coverage of the added 100,000 miles for the wheel bearings. They said bad wheel bearings do not cause the low speed abs failure.

They are sending me the coupon towards my next GM purchase but why would I use it?

I think you owuld be surprised by how many people have had bearing failures with the GMT 800.

Also is impossible to install bearing incorrectly. They are held on by 3 bolts. That is it.

So I am disgusted by GM to pull back there original offer and I will have to pursue this issue through NHTSA.

sonjaab · March 7, 2006

MARK.........Best way is to call GMCs 800 number and have your

VIN # handy. They will tell you if ANY recall applies to your

vehicle and give you a campaign # to give to dealer........

NOTE: Don't waste your time asking the dealer. Most are

clueless and will give ya the blowoff.............geo

AirForceAngler · March 8, 2006

Are you trying to get GM to warranty work that you did yourself? Good luck.

Frozen001 · March 9, 2006

So you truck has 66,000 miles on it you replace the ABS sensor and wheel bearings at 14,000 miles prior or at 52,000... Out of warranty for 16,000 miles so you did it the work yourself, and you now expect GM to warranty the work you did on the vehicle?? I do not blame them.... They have no idea if you did the repair procedure correctly... for all they know you installed something wrong which caused the early failure... Not bashing you, just being realistic... I would never expect GM to do what you are expecting them to do... Now if the dealer had done the work it would be totally different...

larry arizona · March 15, 2006

Frozen,

The problem is I should not have to replace wheel bearings at 52,000 miles and then again at an additional 14,000 miles. You can't replace these wheel bearings wrong. 3 15mm bolts hold them on. That is it.

So it does not matter if the dealer replaced them or I did. Anyone could change these bearings, I am certainly more capable than most Dealer mechanics.

GM has a recall on the abs sensor. The sensor reads the pickups internal to the hubs if the senor or bearing go bad the ABS fails. They are not addressing the recall properly.

So in total I have had 2 driver and 1 passenger side wheel bearings replaced on a truck with 66K miles. I guess I keep getting the "BAD" bearings.

andy.parrow · March 16, 2006

I just got a 02 Tahoe with 70,000 miles on it. Noticed this problem just a few days after I left dealership. Called dealership, they told me my truck wasn't covered. They suggested I call GMAC. Called them, they had the dealership review the truck to see if it was the same problem. It was so they covered it. 2 new front wheel speed senors. $0 cost to me, but I did spend about an hour on the phone between the dealership and GMAC>

larry arizona · March 17, 2006

I am just saying to all of you that you may want to check your wheel bearings periodically for slop. You need to get the wheel off the ground to check it.

This is a very dangerous condition that I have seen to varying degrees on my truck and a few friends trucks as well.

My issue with GM not backing these wheel bearings in the midst of a ABS sensor recall in my opinion is valid and I will continue this with NHSTA.

The wheel sensors do not solve the problem 100% of the time. Just ask your dealer how many sensors they replace and how many bearings they replace to solve the low speed ABS failure. If this was anything other that a safety matter I would understand this as a normal wear and tear issue and not expect GM to cover it. BUT THIS IS A RECALL!!!! IT has nothing to do with warranty!

I only have an issue because GM is choosing to ignore an issue that they are fully aware of. Working as an Engineer in the Detroit auto industry it is a tight community. Engineers talk and I have several friends that work for the General that know the internal issues with these trucks. The bearings are a problem! That is fact. Whether anyone on you chooses to believe it is not relevant.

So take this as you want and I hope that none of you ever see this failure personally.

Good luck

MS3DALE · March 17, 2006

The wheel sensors do not solve the problem 100% of the time. Just ask your dealer how many sensors they replace and how many bearings they replace to solve the low speed ABS failure.

I can answer this one from our dealerships experience....One,Yep just one bearing is all we have changed since this recalled started,And we covered that at no-charge to the customer under the recall.

We've changed 32 sensors since the recall started.

Most trucks (I'd say 80-85%) we get in here just get the cleaning and sprayed with the corrosion inhibitor and reinstalled.

jimbobcanada · March 17, 2006

Just my to sense worth Larry, I live in Canada and our dealerships up here have told me that the is a one year full replacement on GM parts no limit on mileage. How long did you have the second bearing ?