GM financial woes have begun

I am more scared about the financial woes of the USA than GM.

chevman

NinerBikes wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Had my 95 Explorer for over 150k miles and it never tipped over! probably millions on the road that are still "wheels down"! As for the Pinto, again many that were rear ended that never exploded.

Yeah, well, my GF had a 1996 Eddie Bauer V8 AWD Explorer, and her's did flip... on a well crowned 2 lane highway in the desert, north of Mojave, CA. She had Firestone tires on the car, and it's my belief that Ford bought cheap tires, and then underinflated the truck tires to make the cars drive and ride softer and smoother, more like a sedan, instead of like the truck, and truck chassis that the Explorer was based on. Hers was totaled at 37k miles. Those are the facts. I blame it solely on Ford, they serviced and aired the tires the whole life of that car, Galpin Ford. Only people to ever work on that car.

Ford bought a cheap, but adequate Firestone tire, then underinflated it, per instructions from corporate when they got complaints about women with Explorers that rode too harsh, too much like a truck. Tires overheated, and failed near the tread /sidewall juncture and delaminated explosively.

My mother had a firestone tire delam at 80 mph in west texas, she pulled over to the side of the road where I changed it. Other than the running board damage, we were good. Wish your experience had been similar to ours. Oh, and firestone paid for the repair and a new firestone tire.

dodge guy wrote:
Had my 95 Explorer for over 150k miles and it never tipped over! probably millions on the road that are still "wheels down"! As for the Pinto, again many that were rear ended that never exploded.

Yeah, well, my GF had a 1996 Eddie Bauer V8 AWD Explorer, and her's did flip... on a well crowned 2 lane highway in the desert, north of Mojave, CA. She had Firestone tires on the car, and it's my belief that Ford bought cheap tires, and then underinflated the truck tires to make the cars drive and ride softer and smoother, more like a sedan, instead of like the truck, and truck chassis that the Explorer was based on. Hers was totaled at 37k miles. Those are the facts. I blame it solely on Ford, they serviced and aired the tires the whole life of that car, Galpin Ford. Only people to ever work on that car.

Ford bought a cheap, but adequate Firestone tire, then underinflated it, per instructions from corporate when they got complaints about women with Explorers that rode too harsh, too much like a truck. Tires overheated, and failed near the tread /sidewall juncture and delaminated explosively.

Had my 95 Explorer for over 150k miles and it never tipped over! probably millions on the road that are still "wheels down"! As for the Pinto, again many that were rear ended that never exploded.

Food for thought: Look up the top 5 most notorious recalls in automotive history and you'll see Ford owns 2 of them. The "tipsy" Explorer for 10 years and the "firery" Pinto. You'll also see, if you bother to look, that a memo at Ford stated it would cost $11 per car to protect the Pinto gas tank but it would be cheaper to pay out possible settlements. The Pinto was credited with 200 deaths. That said, I'll be looking at a Ford when it comes time for my next truck. Jus sayin' they all do it at one time or another. Moving on...lol

As long as the key is in on the GM truck/vehicles and the auto tranny is not in Park but in drive etc and the engine has been running like Melton's Cobalt would have been, the steering doesn't lock up after turning the ignition key to off. Of course, you have to leave the key in and in a gear after turning the running engine off like hers would have been.

Remember that of course you must step on your brake so your vehicle doesn't roll if on a grade and into something though. The steering wheel still turns but it takes more force to turn it as you are standing still without the front wheels rotating. Has been this way for as long as I can remember unless they had changed it in just the last 2-3 years.

CharlieD,

Nope, I wouldn't like driving our truck/TC very heavy rig without the power steering but you sure can and Melton's Cobalt was about 1/4 of the weight of our truck/TC rig with much smaller tires and far less contact friction surface on the road.

Heisenberg wrote:
I towed with a Chevrolet Cobalt ...

:)

Please, someone make the mean people stop!

monkey44 wrote:
Don't know about any other vehicles, but even if we don't lose power-steering, in my truck, the steering wheel locks solid when the ignition is shut off.

Pretty hard to steer that way. But this whole issue is something else entirely. Has nothing to do with 'failure of a part', it has to do with how a company handles issues that fail.

It's about the attorneys and engineers trying to find a way to absolve themselves of the responsibility. Mostly every mechanical or electronic part fails at some point or in some way, not very part, but at least some of each part or brand. And we NEVER, EVER get the complete story.

How a company deals with that issue is important to its future, and the trust its brings to its customers.

I can't disagree with your post but my 2006 D/A nor my 2013 D/A Crew cab locks the steering wheel when the ignition is turned off. When rolling the steering becomes increasingly difficult as the truck slows down. I would hate to be in a position of pulling my RV with out power steering.

spoon059 wrote:

Lessmore wrote:
Some brand loyal individual sees an article unfavourable to what they consider to be the enemy brand and then start a thread....and a range war.
...
There is absolute no value in any of this...it is all a waste of effort on everybody's part.
...
Why...do we never learn ?

Lessmore wrote:
You are correct...I cannot avoid these threads. I find them entertaining.

Lessmore wrote:
and the cab didn't have to be lifted off to replace it. :B

The irony is quite thick in here today...

As I said before....it's entertaining. I think irony and entertainment can go hand in hand if you do it right. ;)