2015 Yukon catches fire during test drive

Wonder if the DOT will give GM the Toyota treatment? Maybe a slight conflict of interest. Yeah Murica.
 
The dealer still wants sticker price for it. It's a hot seller right now.
 
Occam's Razor says the dealer screwed up the vehicle prep (left the oil cap off, left something combustible under the hood, or some other equally stupid error).

My dealer (not the same one, but geographically close to this incident, so it goes to the general level of talent available in the area) didn't put the oil cap on my car on properly at the first oil change and I ended up with oil all over the engine. Needless to say, he won't be doing much work on my car again.
 
I'd bet on a fuel line failure spraying gasoline all over everything to get it going like that.

Dan
 
That thing will get new paint, the dealer will want 5K over sticker for it because it's custom paint. :D
 
Actually, prep on new vehicles these days is pretty much look it over, check the fluids, tire pressure etc. I'd guess this is some type of fuel line leak, may or may not have been something caught on a pre-delivery inspection. :D

Jeff Oslick said:
Occam's Razor says the dealer screwed up the vehicle prep (left the oil cap off, left something combustible under the hood, or some other equally stupid error).

My dealer (not the same one, but geographically close to this incident, so it goes to the general level of talent available in the area) didn't put the oil cap on my car on properly at the first oil change and I ended up with oil all over the engine. Needless to say, he won't be doing much work on my car again.
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Didn't you guy get the Fox memo? Only Teslas catch fire. Gas cars never, ever catch fire.
 
I guess the old "never buy a first year model of anything" rule still applies.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Wonder if the DOT will give GM the Toyota treatment? Maybe a slight conflict of interest. Yeah Murica.
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The government has no more of a conflict of interest than they do any other car brand. The US Treasury no longer has any ownership interest in GM.
 
dukeblue219 said:
The government has no more of a conflict of interest than they do any other car brand. The US Treasury no longer has any ownership interest in GM.
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But they did when the model was being designed and built.
 
My 2007 HHR is under recall for the ignition switch. I got a letter from GM telling me not to have any other keys on my key ring, including the remote key FOB when operating my vehicle.
 
EppyGA said:
My 2007 HHR is under recall for the ignition switch. I got a letter from GM telling me not to have any other keys on my key ring, including the remote key FOB when operating my vehicle.
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GM is on the recall hot seat right now, it happens to all manufacturers, I'm glad it's not Ford this time! :D This ignition switch recall is a mess, apparently the vehicle shuts off as the ignition goes into accessory mode, disabling the airbags and anti-lock brakes. :eek: It appears to stem from too much weight on the key, wearing out some part of the switch. When I see the amount a crap people have on their key rings, it surprises me that it wasn't thought of during the engineering phase.
 
N747JB said:
GM is on the recall hot seat right now, it happens to all manufacturers, I'm glad it's not Ford this time! :D This ignition switch recall is a mess, apparently the vehicle shuts off as the ignition goes into accessory mode, disabling the airbags and anti-lock brakes. :eek: It appears to stem from too much weight on the key, wearing out some part of the switch. When I see the amount a crap people have on their key rings, it surprises me that it wasn't thought of during the engineering phase.
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Fortunately I keep very little on my key ring, just the key, remote FOB and house keys. Other key, like airplane, hangar, etc go on separate rings that I take when I need them.
 
N747JB said:
GM is on the recall hot seat right now, it happens to all manufacturers, I'm glad it's not Ford this time! :D This ignition switch recall is a mess, apparently the vehicle shuts off as the ignition goes into accessory mode, disabling the airbags and anti-lock brakes. :eek: It appears to stem from too much weight on the key, wearing out some part of the switch. When I see the amount a crap people have on their key rings, it surprises me that it wasn't thought of during the engineering phase.
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If manufacturers didn't put profit first, the recalls would have happened years ago. And soon the keys won't be a problem when the start buttons become a standard. Then you end up with the toyota problem where the driver cannot figure out how to turn the damned thing off when it runs away from them.
Transmission fluid leak? How does one miss that?
 
EppyGA said:
My 2007 HHR is under recall for the ignition switch. I got a letter from GM telling me not to have any other keys on my key ring, including the remote key FOB when operating my vehicle.
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I got the recall notice too. I love how it basically says, "We don't actually have a solution yet. Stay tuned". It's not that big of a deal. The detents on the ignition switch is too light for some people and all the crap they hang on their key fob. I find this problem particularly bad with women because they tend to keep their keys in their purse and by attaching all kinds of crap to the fob, it makes it easier to find in the purse.

IMO, if you just keep a couple of keys and the remote fob on there, you'll be fine. Test it for yourself. While the engine is running, see how much force is required to move the key from run to on. It's not a lot, but for the keys to do it in their downward hanging angle, it would either take a lot of weight, or serious acceleration of the vehicle.

Another good test to do is go out to an empty parking lot, or deserted road, get the car up to some speed and switch the engine off and see what happens. Engine out should be part of the driver's test. Guess what? The brakes still work, the steering still works and if you switch the ignition back to run, the engine instantly fires right up.

Not that I'm letting GM off the hook on this one. Apparently, they have known this was an issue for over a decade and they didn't even decide to do a redesign on newer cars. Their lame legal and financial departments probably counseled them to leave it alone, save the money and admit no fault in an attempt to avoid recalls and lawsuits. The result is recalls and lawsuits.

It's really too bad. GM makes some of the most compelling and interesting vehicles out there, but there is an old corporate culture that runs the company that just seems too ingrown to ever be broken. Even though they come out and declare they are all new and have changed their ways about every ten years or so, time and time again it is painfully obvious they have not.
 
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silver-eagle said:
If manufacturers didn't put profit first, the recalls would have happened years ago. And soon the keys won't be a problem when the start buttons become a standard. Then you end up with the toyota problem where the driver cannot figure out how to turn the damned thing off when it runs away from them.
Transmission fluid leak? How does one miss that?
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I have to agree, just like the Space Shuttle, low bidder gets the job! Likely, some genius saved GM $3.00 on these switches and got promoted! :mad2: Saved the company $10 million on switches and cost them $100 million in recalls and settlements! :dunno: Happens at all manufacturers and not just the car industry, cheaper is always better! :nono:
 
Early 90's, I bought a brand new S-10. A week later, they called me and told me not to drive it because it might catch on fire. They had it towed to the dealer, something with the fuel line.
 
Bill Jennings said:
GM is recalling all of their brand new Silverado pickups and the SUVs based on them.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...lls-sierra-silverado-tahoe-yukon-oil/7069681/

Loose oil cooler lines. GM is taking it on the chin these days.
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In spite of all of that, I am very impressed with most of their new product and, if I were ever to buy a new car again (probably will not, but you never know), I would certainly consider several of theirs.

The trucks are all good rigs, and I love the current Cadillac rear-wheel-drive models (ATS, CTS), wish they would honor the rumors and roll out a flagship RWD platform.

The Buicks are pretty sound these days, much better driving cars than we ever expected in the old days from Buick.

And, if you have not seen the new Impala, you might be blown away at how good they are; the exact opposite of the mediocrity the prior Impala (fleet car only, IMHO) represented. Beautiful design, roomy, fast, handles and excellent economy.

For me, of course, it would all come down to the dealer - good dealer means you're likely to have a good experience.
 
SCCutler said:
For me, of course, it would all come down to the dealer - good dealer means you're likely to have a good experience.
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Indeed. Very important. Should you buy a GM vehicle, the way things seem to be going, you might be seeing a lot of the dealer.;)
 
us AAirways said:
Early 90's, I bought a brand new S-10. A week later, they called me and told me not to drive it because it might catch on fire. They had it towed to the dealer, something with the fuel line.
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Had a brand new 89 S-10 was a great truck. Paint peeled off it after it was a few years old and Chevy repainted it for free. Otherwise only minor stuff(water pump, alternator) in 200K hard miles.
 
Hell, the speedometers on all GMs with cheap servo motors are guaranteed to fail in the 2002-2006 model years. NHTSA even recalled them, but politely put a *mileage* limitation on the recall to save GM money.

They're still failing to this day. The proper solution if government is all about "safety" would have been an open-ended recall.
 
Dav8or said:
Indeed. Very important. Should you buy a GM vehicle, the way things seem to be going, you might be seeing a lot of the dealer.;)
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Bah,
I have a 2005 Safari Minivan which has of today 411,950 mi., been to the dealer once. Drive it every day, lot's. A non dealer for a few minor things for normal wear and tear repairs.Of course tires and brakes also, I usually get 100,000 mi. on each set of tires.
Oil changed every 9,000 to 15,000 miles whether it needs it or not, survives the Michigan cold and salt seasons well. Still have not replaced the original exhaust.
Seen many a Toyota,Honda, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes etc, along side the road as I continue to 500,000 and maybe beyond.
Foreign cars are over hype'd.( although most so called American cars are made with a higher % of foreign made parts than most foreign cars)
 
el con said:
Bah,
I have a 2005 Safari Minivan which has of today 411,950 mi.,
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The 4.3 is one of the most durable engines GM has ever produced. In fact, GM has a good record with most of their V-6 engines. And the Safari is a truck based minivan. Trucks IMOH are what you want to buy if you want long term durability.
 
I've long wondered whether granting manufacturers some sort of liability protection in return for promptly issuing recalls when defects are identified might encourage them to do so. The articles I've read about these problems always emphasize the manufacturers' wanting to avoid embarrassment, but I suspect that a desire to mitigate liability is also operative in some cases.

Take the ignition switch issue, for example. It's arguable that the switch is not really defective so much as that people hang too much crap from their key chains -- especially women, who tend to keep their keys in their purses where the fobs, flashlights, other keys, lockets, trinkets, loyalty card tags, and various other crap attached to the ring don't cause the discomfort they would if the keys were kept in a pants pocket.

In that kind of case, it becomes a kind of Catch-22 for the manufacturer. If they don't change the switch design, they're accused of negligence and deliberate indifference to safety. If they do change the design without some other accompanying change that would explain it, such as a trim change, it could be used as evidence that they knew about the problem, but failed to correct it for owners of cars built before the change.

I wonder if a mechanism by which early acknowledgment and voluntary correction of defects, in return for liability limitation to cost of repair and actual economic damages, might help speed these decisions along.

-Rich
 
Some guy asked the other day if the GM ignition switch recall would affect the Volt. Well, since the volt doesn't really have an ignition switch, it just sort of wakes up when you get near the car with the key fob...probably not.

I switched my house over to electronic door locks many years ago. The only "key" I really carry is the car key.
 
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