Very Long Response almost presidential
forgive the strange type- I copied and pasted and I am ignorant as to edit in the preview.
Letter sent July 4, 2011 and repairs done to rusted out steel brake lines.
I am a former ASE Certified Auto Technician.
Two links of Interest:
GM Unsafe Brakes
Consumer complaints about GM Chevrolet Silverado - Brakes)
Barack *****, President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
CERTIFIED MAIL
Dear Mr. President:
I thought you might be interested in saving some American lives right here at home. I truly believe that some Americans will get injured or killed by way of motor vehicle accidents caused by brake lines catastrophically failing due to steel brake lines rusting out and rupturing when needed most.
I believe you have a great deal of influence over the General Motors Corporation葉axpayer痴 money did bail them out and some people are calling GM, Government Motors. You are the head of our government and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration answers to you, not to share holders. The NHTSA can proactively save lives by mandating a recall be instituted by General Motors. Why wait until lives are injured or lost?
I purchased a 2002 Chevy Silverado 3500- dually pickup truck new to pull a 14,000 pound trailer full of equipment to construct a new home. I am incredibly lucky to have avoided brake failure while towing a heavy trailer. That good fortune has motivated this correspondence.
In early May, I was doing a routine inspection of my truck in preparation for two trips north to continue my construction project. The truck needed front brake pads, rotors (more rusted out than worn out) and a rebuilt caliper. At 41,000 miles with the heavy towing I do four times a year, not a total surprise. I replaced all of the needed brake components. During the bleeding of the air from the front hydraulic circuit, I told my wife all 118 pounds of her to stand on the brake pedal. At that point, I noticed brake fluid pouring out of three locations on the driver痴 side of the truck. Steel brake lines had ruptured on both hydraulic circuits due to the steel lines rusting out. That is catastrophic failure or in layman痴 terms-no brakes. My tools were already out; the truck was up on jack stands at my shop and I was not going down a steep grade with a 14,000 pound trailer in tow following behind a school bus, a family sedan or any member of the driving public. Lucky for all of us, eh.
I replaced all of the steel lines, about forty five feet. Some of the rust was hidden from view within plastic retainers. The lines that had not burst were not to be trusted (as in unsafe-and I would not trust them). If a truck owner was to have a repair shop do that kind of work which requires carefully removing (sometimes encountering frozen) rusted fittings/brake lines and bleeder screws while preventing any damage to the Antilock-Braking System (ABS) computer module, master cylinder and calipers the cost could easily become prohibitive. A factor which I am guessing has held back any action for a nationwide recall campaign by the General Motors Corporation. I do not understand the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration痴 reluctance to take any real action. They can claim studies are being done with longwinded names and complicated procedures. It comes down to the simple fact that GM痴 components: steel brake lines, the steel sections of the flexible brake lines, steel backing plates and cast iron rotors are incredibly rust prone and in some cases somewhat hidden from view. This is a real danger to uninformed owners driving the nation痴 roadways. Mr. President, automotive brakes should do one thing and do it really well whenever needed STOP the vehicle. They should also have some degree of longevity. Normal wear and tear is fine; but rusting out catastrophically in a short time because of ineffective rust preventive coatings溶ot so good.
My friend recently relocated from New York to North Carolina- he owns a 2005 Chevy Silverado with only 20,000 miles on it. To avoid rust, he has always rinsed off his under body/frame during the winter months to rid the under body/frame of road salt deposits. After repairing my brakes in May, we inspected his brake lines. Vincent is just as skilled and knowledgeable as I, with younger eyes. Yet, I had to show him the hidden dangers lurking on his truck. Mr. President, his truck is still covered under an extended GM warranty yet he refused to bring it to a Chevrolet dealer. Instead, he paid out of pocket for the parts. In the past, Vincent had some warranty claims that required several return visits for the dealer to correct or even initiate a repair. He wanted his truck safe for his relocation trip. His thoughts were: 妬f it is not leaking the (expletive) dealer will not replace the steel brake lines? More importantly he did not want the same rust and failure prone GM steel brake lines installed. He thought they would probably rust away in 20,000 miles. I could not argue with that logic. We only replaced one blatantly dangerous brake line (approximately 11 feet) in late May. In the not too distant future, he will have to address the others.
I searched on the internet and could not believe the number of posts concerning rusted GM brake components and some of the horror stories associated with the brake failures. To quote
Joep42@Epix.net Joep42@Epix.net:
徹nConsumeraffairs.comalone (
Consumer complaints about GM Chevrolet Silverado - Brakes) there are 25 pages of brake complaints, for GM light trucks, and most of the complaints are for sudden loss of brakes due to a burst brake line. How many does it take before someone wakes up?
This is not a new problem and it has been ignored. Yes, I know the information came from the internet. Never the less, some of the pictures posted match what I have seen. I have personally seen three GM pickups that had rusted out steel components on their brake systems.
Sure as the sun rises, some Americans are going to lose their brakes in General Motors vehicle. Some may die or get injured due to this dangerous flaw in the most critical safety apparatus on a vehicle-the brake system. I am hoping you can use your powers and motivate General Motors to have competent technicians perform a brake system inspection on: ABS, rotors, steel and flexible lines at no charge to owners---It will save lives!!!!!! Of course, I strongly believe the best solution is a safety recall because there are brake component flaws.
With all of their creativity in advertising and their resourcefulness in coining of a new term to auto mechanic痴 parlance (登il-gel condition mechanics know it as sludge), I think the Toyota Motor Corporation is a terrible auto manufacturer due to their obstinacy to issue recalls and own up to vehicle flaws. However, the steel brake lines on my daughter痴 1999 Toyota with a 129,000 miles and always parked outdoors are totally devoid of rust due to some very effective rust prevention coating. In the past, I owned a 1978 dually Chevy pickup truck. I replaced a rusted out steel brake line in 1995. It was the original steel brake line and it lasted seventeen years. I helped out a friend replacing a rusted out steel brake line on a 1995 Jeep that lasted sixteen years with over a hundred thousand miles. When it failed it scared the life out of his wife coming home from work barely able to stop during rush hour.
Mr. President, have you ever lost brakes in a vehicle? All cars and trucks have a dual circuit brake system which will give the driver some degree of stopping power. If one looses the rear brake circuit the vehicle should still have 60% to 70% stopping power, from the front circuit. Losing the front circuit, one should have 30% to 40% stopping power from the rear circuit. Unfortunately, this does not seem to apply to GM pick up trucks. Most people I know that own large pick up trucks or SUVs do indeed tow something, that magnifies the danger.
I hope that the President actually reads this letter because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not done a credible job of investigating and taking action on this matter. If not him, then maybe the staff member screening this letter will be astute enough to understand that lives can proactively be saved and relay the information to Mr. ***** and the appropriate officials. Brakes will fail, Americans will be injured or die, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and General Motors (敵overnment Motors? has not done a thing about it---move over Toyota.
Since you will receive this after the 4th of July weekend and I seem to be on a crusade to prevent: motor vehicle accidents, injuries and death. Almost 2 years ago my wife and I narrowly escaped an intense rear end collision by a driver 鍍exting on a cell phone. We were en route to a funeral. On July 1, 2011 I stopped at a Verizon Wireless store to have my cell phone looked at by a technician. While waiting, I looked all over this humongous store for any signs or posters to inform customers: not to drive and text, and to use hands free devices (which are sold there) or to join the much publicized 徹prah痴 no text zone? No such notices were present. Yes, I know that might be a conflict of interest for Verizon but it would help make our roadways safer and be the right thing to do. Mr. President, perhaps you can use the powers of your office and assist in this noble effort for another surefire way to prevent automobile accidents.
If you or an informed staff member(s) have a strong mindset to prevent motor vehicle accidents and would like to discuss any of the above, feel free to drop me a line with a best time to call, a phone number & extension. I will call.
Cc:
Arthur S. Brisbane, Editor New York Times,
letters@nytimes.com
Nancy Perry Graham, Editor AARP Magazine,
member@aarp.org
Bill O坦eilly, Fox News,
Oreilly@foxnews.com
Jon Meacham, Editor Newsweek Magazine, Email:
Letters@newsweek.com
CNN, Daybreak,
daybreak@cnn.com
MSNBC, Chris Matthews,
hardball@msnbc.com
NBC News, Today Show,
today@nbc.com
Dan Akerson, CEO General Motors Corporation
CBS News, 60 Minutes,
60m@cbsnews.com
ABC News, George Stephanopoulos,
thisweek@abc.com
David Strickland, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Bill Daley, Chief of Staff to President *****
Nancy-Ann DeParle, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff
Bruce Dold, Editor Chicago Tribune,
bdold@tribune.com
Ray LaHood, U.S. Transportation Secretary
Consumers for Auto Reliablty and Saftey,
info@carconsumers.com
Oprah Winfrey, Safe Driving Advocate
J. Peter Kissinger: President and CEO, AAA Foundation,
info@aaafoundation.org
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety,
info@saferoads.org
Bob Woodruff,
bob.woodruff@abc.com
Consumers for Auto Reliablty and Saftey,
info@carconsumers.com
John Boehner , House Republican Leader
John McCain, U.S. Senator
Eric Cantor, U.S. Congressman
Don Young, U.S. Congressman
Joep42@Epix.net
***************
Sent to auto insurance companies and auto insurance testing and safety organizations 9/2011:
I am sending you a copy of a letter sent to President ***** and any office, organization or person that might have interest (see cc list) in preventing accidents due to brake failure.
The President has a lot of fish to fry these days. He is up to neck in the economic situation America is facing, international relations, trying to sell a relief package to Congress, and of course doing what every first term President does, get grey hair and start his campaign for that second term. I am hoping that you and your organization will have a stronger interest in preventing auto accidents caused by GM痴 premature rust and failure prone brakes.
F.Y.I. the only response from the White House was the return receipt from the certified mail. General Motors did contact me via an executive assistant named Josh Holder. His main concern was 努hat I wanted迫I asked if he read the ***** letter.
My truck is fixed and safe to drive, but I know that there are millions of other GM trucks and SUVs on the road with many drivers that are not former SAE Certified Technicians with an understanding of how dangerous their trucks can be with catastrophic brake failure.
I may be incorrect in thinking that Mr. ***** would only have to make a few phone calls to get government agencies to institute a safety campaign and have the GM (敵OVERNMENT MOTORS? brake systems checked---after all, he is the President. I know your organizations have more of a vested interest in auto safety.
**************
FYI on the repairs:
The brake fix on my truck was one nasty job. Every flare nut was frozen to the ABS Module and it took a day of repeated gentle heating and spraying penetrating oil to remove 3 out of 5. Soaked the other 2 overnight and a little heat the next morning removed them and every other connection too. The bleeders were removed and replaced two years earlier w/never-seize on the threads. Of course removing the flare nuts supplied w/new line (different size), double flaring the new lines routing and splicing the new lines was a challenge. I used a 菟olycoated no kink line but used couplers to connect to proper length. On Vinnie痴 truck we used a better product-S.U.R. &R brake line in bulk- 25 foot roll and I knew via experience w/my truck that we would be using the GM flair nuts again after a thread chasing-not stocked at 2 parts stores. The S.U.R. & R stuff is super flexible
S.U.R.&R. is a leading manufacturer of an extensive line of replacement parts used in the Automotive Aftermarket industry. like a pretzel. A very busy repair shop in town has told me it does not corrode. They also told me it was difficult to quote a job like that耀eeing how the removal could be labor intensive as I found out. They charge $99/hour to work on trucks these days.
In March 2009, my son used the truck and the steel banjo ends on a flexible line were rotted and burst on the front circuit. The truck should have had more stopping power than it did. Luckily he remembered how to use the six speed manual transmission to cautiously drive home. I replaced all of the flexible lines and the rear pads and rotors at the same time葉he parking brake shoes are tiny and paper thin and I would guess never capable of stopping the truck if it was moving at any speed. The flex lines were only available from Chevy-$$$$. Eight months latter I replaced the right rear caliper様uckily the new pads only smoked up a little and were OK; and the parts store had the caliper in stock on a Sunday morning. The Caliper locked up 10 miles from home on the return trip with a loaded trailer. 鏑ike a Rock迫maybe a rusted one these days.
When all of the brake failure started I figured some GM engineer(s) got a real fat bonus check and a villa on an exotic island. They designed (spec弾d-out) brake components to fail after the extended warranty expired and the repair cost $$$$. This may have motivated some to buy a new truck.
FYI ?7 or ?6 I had the truck in for the mandatory annual state inspection at the NJ state inspection facility葉he inspector told me that I passed; but the brakes were marginal at best and have the system checked. He saw the goose neck hitch on the dually and must have figured it pulled some weight. I was still under an extended warranty. The front wheel sensor was replaced by a dealer謡ould have cost $1200. The truck was activating the ABS erroneously=loss of stopping power.
***************
I have inspected the parking brakes on my truck--- I do not figure those small thin brake shoes would be enough to stop the truck and much of a load even with trailer brakes.
