Warped Dash

[j-ten-ner]

Still to many people say: "...no big deal...don't be so picky...that's life...".

And this is exactly the reason why GM (or other manufacturers for that matter) do not bother to change the policies when it comes to quality and customer satisfaction.

 

It will never change as long as people are willing to pay a shitload of money for.....

 

so long

j-ten-ner

[mzodarg]

I think GM needs to start designing and fitting long pieces of plastic like this in a cold room. Room temp should be at 0F (-17C) to get the piece be at its maximum expansion. They could also strengthen the trim where it is popping up and make it another trim pin location so it will be clipped down. They could also take a different type of plastic that does not expand at the same rate and glue them together.

The amount of heat the interior has to endure is unreal. I saw a show the other week where they would showing that you really have to watch what you leave on console and seats. Leave a pair of glasses there, and when you come back at end of day you come to find holes burnt into the seats, if you are lucky, or you come down to see fire department picking up their equipment. Seem ordinary reading glasses can impersonate a magnifying glass.

Quick fix for GM is to split that piece of trim into two pieces with a floating butt joint where the two pieces now meet, or, lengthen the slots that the clips go into to give dash pieces room to grow.

IME- I would say it's more caused by heat, two piece fitted together that expand due to the heat would cause them to warp at the weakest point. Along with deforming. Heat= expansion cold=extraction.

 

Mike

Edited December 14, 2013 by mzodarg

[j-ten-ner]

...cold=extraction...

Do you mean 'contraction'?

Sorry, my lack of language.

 

I think so too that the two different types of material work like a bi-metal contact.

 

Hey GM: this is 'Physics for 5. Graders'...

 

so long

j-ten-ner

[mzodarg]

Shrinkage ;-)

[pm26]

I would think that car manufacturers would know how to make a good durable dash at this point. There is no excuse for this. If you want to use cheap materials and save money, then face the music when they warp and start replacing them.

[ASW]

I'd personally pay an extra $2,000 to $3,000 to have a higher quality product than pay less and deal with issues for years to come.

[Doug_Scott]

I would think that car manufacturers would know how to make a good durable dash at this point. There is no excuse for this. If you want to use cheap materials and save money, then face the music when they warp and start replacing them.

 

They know how to do it. I think what they don't know is how to ensure that all pre-production testing is done over a wide range of weather conditions. This should already be covered by one or two of the ISO standards that GM claims they are certified in. I know ISO9000/ISO9001 are some of them.

 

I would not let any dealer "try" to fix this on their own. What fixes it today, will likely now cause a different issue in July next year.

 

The reference in this thread to bi-metal contact is exactly what this is behaving as. Bi-metal strips are two thin strips of different metals, bonded together. One of the strips expands at a higher rate than the other strip, causing the flat strip to curl. It works in the opposite way when exposed to cold. On automobiles, the most common use was the automatic choke and non-electronic turn signal flasher modules.

[99kon]

I have a truck that has the cracked dash. My 09 Sierra has the "tahoe" dash and like in my post on page one, everybody know its a problem, including GM.

The thing about it is, if it does not cause fatalities, GM will not issue a recall.

This is how it works in my opinion.

If the vehicle has a defect, the bean counters look at it this way. How likely will the defect end up killing somebody?

If the recall is more expensive than what they think they will have to pay out in law suits, they simply will not recall the product.

Think about the "recalls' guys.

Its always something mechanical that can cause a fire, can lead to the accelerator being stuck, break failure etc.....

 

When was the last time you heard of a recall because of a warped or cracked dash or peeling paint??

Big corporations pay people to talk to somebody on the phone and assure them they are doing everything possible to fix the issue, when in my opinion they are just hoping you get fed up with the run around and give up.

Edited December 16, 2013 by 99kon

[Doug_Scott]

I have a truck that has the cracked dash. My 09 Sierra has the "tahoe" dash and like in my post on page one, everybody know its a problem, including GM.

The thing about it is, if it does not cause fatalities, GM will not issue a recall.

This is how it works in my opinion.

If the vehicle has a defect, the bean counters look at it this way. How likely will the defect end up killing somebody?

If the recall is more expensive than what they think they will have to pay out in law suits, they simply will not recall the product.

Think about the "recalls' guys.

Its always something mechanical that can cause a fire, can lead to the accelerator being stuck, break failure etc.....

 

When was the last time you heard of a recall because of a warped or cracked dash or peeling paint??

Big corporations pay people to talk to somebody on the phone and assure them they are doing everything possible to fix the issue, when in my opinion they are just hoping you get fed up with the run around and give up.

 

Auto manufacturers do not generally decide to recall vehicles. NHTSA investigates claims and work with manufacturers to determine if a recall is required or not. A recall is used in cases where physical harm/death may occur.

We need to have a way to distinguish severity of an issue. If you receive a recall notice for your truck, it should make you think this is something important, and you will end up taking it in to have the issue taken care of. You are less likely to ignore a recall.

If you get a notice of defect (don't know what GM calls them, Chrysler used to call them "Campaign Change" or "Campaign Bulletin"), you are likely to read it, then decide if it bothers you enough to take it in. If they only sent out Recalls, people would tend to not bother with them. It is an extension of the "never cry wolf" theory.

As you can tell in this thread alone, the mis-shape of the dash in cold months is gathering a wide range of response, from "I want a new truck" to "lets see what happens when winter is over".

 

Going back to my personal experience working at a Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth dealer in late 70's early 80's there was a large quality issue with Aspen/Volare/Omni/Horizon. There were 5 recalls on 77 Volare alone, plus an additional 6 campaign changes. On a good day a mechanic may get one Volare in for service, and get just over 9 hours flat rate to complete all 11 items. Body shop got couple of hours on top of that for painting a pair of fenders. If the customer was not the original owner, they would not be getting the campaign change notice mailed to them, and would only know about the recalls due to hearing odd news reports about possible recalls.

 

My point is simply, you can drive home after getting a notice of a campaign change, but, you should not drive home after getting notice of recall.

[cadaniel]

I used to work with some higher-level people at an unnamed manufacturer. What I was told from one of them in how they issue recalls is if it is not something that can causes fatalities or serious injuries to a large group, they talk with lawyers and numbers people. They estimate what it would cost to issue a recall, and they compare that cost with what the lawyers numbers people say it would cost if there was a class-action suit for a major defect. Usually that's based on a certain percentage of buyers accepting to be a part of the lawsuit. Whichever is cheaper, they go with that one.

[j-ten-ner]

...at the end it is all about the money.

 

Welcome to reality.

 

so long

j-ten-ner

[Doug_Scott]

In Canada, you have to opt out of a class action suit. By default every person that is effected by the issue that the class action covers are automatically included in the class action. And from the ads I see from the states, it is the same way down there. The ads I see, tell viewers that if they experienced some issue, they are to call Dewy-Cheatem&Howe to get their share.

Edited December 17, 2013 by doug_scott

[Jsdirt]

What a coincidence! Former employees of that exact same law firm run the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Small world!

[mike94silverado]

Still to many people say: "...no big deal...don't be so picky...that's life...".

And this is exactly the reason why GM (or other manufacturers for that matter) do not bother to change the policies when it comes to quality and customer satisfaction.

 

It will never change as long as people are willing to pay a shitload of money for.....

 

so long

j-ten-ner

X2... I just got a survey from RAM on why i didn't buy one.... My comment essentially was that they didn't take care of me when my 39k mile Ram dash cracked so i will not spend money on a Ram. I looked at one, made my decisions based on what was best for me but when it came down to it the Cold way Chrysler dealt with me on that truck shaped my buying decisions for probably the rest of my life. It wasn't a squeak or rattle or discolored bumper I was asking to be fixed just out of warranty it was the freaking dash. they had a chance to do the right thing (I don't care what anyone says about warranty the dash should last near the life of the truck) and have my Opinion of Chrysler be "they took care of me" instead my opinion was and still is "They'll take care of you for the 3/36. then it falls apart"

Edited December 17, 2013 by mike94silverado

[mike94silverado]

I used to work with some higher-level people at an unnamed manufacturer. What I was told from one of them in how they issue recalls is if it is not something that can causes fatalities or serious injuries to a large group, they talk with lawyers and numbers people. They estimate what it would cost to issue a recall, and they compare that cost with what the lawyers numbers people say it would cost if there was a class-action suit for a major defect. Usually that's based on a certain percentage of buyers accepting to be a part of the lawsuit. Whichever is cheaper, they go with that one.

the Ford Pinto defense...... $12 a car to fix vs. $8 a car in possible litigation costs from deaths..... They chose the $8. then they still had to fix the cars anyways.... You'd think the companies would just learn and do it right to begin with......