| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 004063864 | Incident Date: Dec, 17 2004 |
| Consumer's City: ROCHESTER HILLS | Consumer's State: MI |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: | Manufacturers Name: General Motors, LLC |
| Model Name: MALIBU | Model Year: 2004 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Latches/locks/linkages:doors:latch |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: | Date added to File: May, 23 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Apr, 27 2006 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: Jan, 28 2004 |
| Was Original Owner: No | Anti-lock Brakes: No |
| Number of Cylinders: 0 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: As a former gm development engineer i would like to identify a door latch wet freeze condition that under certain conditions jeopardizes customer safety. the issue occurs on some vehicles using the delphi version of the gm global door latch, and there have been several customer complaints in us and canada. the failure mode occurs when the vehicle has been washed, or exposed to water, and the vehicle is frozen afterwards. when water enters the latch, and ice forms the door latch becomes inoperative, the door can be opened and but the latch will not relatch. there have been instances reported in canada in which the customer had experienced this condition and the a passenger almost fell out of a moving vehicle due to the door not relatching. this condition happens primarily on rear doors and effect the following vehicles (chevrolet malibu, cobalt, buick lucerne, buick lacrosse, chevrolet equinox, cadillac srx, cadillac cts). the issue initially surface in december 2004, and remediation plans to resolve this issue we proven ineffective, yet management continued to believe the problem was solved. once the winter season was over, the problem was long forgotten. the next winter, winter 2005 the problem resurfaced. to the best of my knowledge there is one full model year of vehicles in excess of 1 million vehicles in the field that when exposed to water and frozen become an occupant hazard. the condition can be easily replicated by washing one of the vehicles and putting it in a cold cell , and then operating the door. i urge nhtsa to look into this issue before any injuries occur. *nm |
