Insult to Injury--GM recall

Howie Long will be appearing in a new commercial where he makes fun of a Ford owner for not having the "Burst into Flames" option and then calling him a Bob Costas for having a step rear bumper.

My favorite GM recall? The early to mid 60's with SBC's engine mount failure Problem? every mount failed. but the engine would sit ok unless: the car over turned and then gravity took over or a driver shifted from reverse to drive quickly causing the engine to lift far enough to smack the distributor cap against the firewall

GM's solution? A Stainless Steel cable to restrain the engine to the upper A Arm.

My solution? Do'nt turn the car over. AND carry a spare dist cap in the glove box!

Miss my '64 SS Impala

Some Durangos and Ram pickups have a recall for some kind of a wiring problem on the back of the IP which can lead to an electrical fire.

The other part of the SBC busted motor mounts: the rod type throttle linkage would jam. Oops. That motor mount thing is what supposedly sent John Delorean to Pontiac where he championed the GTO which sparked the muscle cars of the '60's. So maybe it wasn't all bad.

Early ('05 and early '06) 300's had a recall for the radiator mounts. They would crack and at highway speed the radiator would fall back into the engine's serpentine belts. Nice.

Seat heaters; some Grand Cherokees and minivans with heated seats have elements which will crack with repeated flexing. This causes a spark inside the seat upholstery; if the circuit breaker doesn't pop you get a small fire under your azz.

alfadriver wrote: The rather significant difference is that non of the recalled cars have ever caught fire for this issue. It's just a risk that they want to nip in the bud. But it's fun to blow it way out of proportion, isn't it? Eric

Wow, where did that come from? All I did was mention that they recalled Fieros for engine fires as well.

So, if none of the recalled vehicles ever caught fire, how do they know there's a problem?

I've re-read the article at the top a few times now and I don't see that mentioned anywhere.

Considering all the very-real problems GM vehicles tend to have, I doubt they would issue a recall based on an imaginary problem.

Thanks for contributing though.

Shawn

Volvo had a similar fire under your rear issue with their front seat heaters. Driving around knowing that you could be trying to put a fire out between your legs makes for more exciting commutes.

Everyone knows what to do when your car catches fire right?
1. Drive as fast as possible to try and extinguish the flames. 2. Doing this might attract the attention of law enforcement who should have an extinguisher.
3. Failing that, pull into a gas station and park at the pumps, they have great extinguisher systems.

(Seriously just GTFO, its not worth it.)

I feel like I'm the only one who can see this for what it is...

Imagine you're GM. Nobody's comin round to look at your E36 M3. How do you get people back on the lot? Hmmmmm.... We've tried everything.

WAIT!

Let's try recalling cars for a dumb reason. Great idea! Not just any cars. Let's pick cars that are underwhelming, so it's owners expectations are easily surpassed. On the other hand, we don't want people in here who are sore at us, so only cars that were generally reliable and efficient. I KNOW! Late 90's and early '00 3800 cars!