D
dominique
Guest
Defect report of a safety and a engineering problem concerning my Corvette C5 bought on june 12th, 1998. No of chassis: 1G1 YY2 2G3 W51 229 86. Miles ~ 20.000 / Km ~ 32.000.
Introduction.
My Corvette C5 suffered from a serious and repeated dysfunction of the acceleration system due, -as reported in numerous other instances- to interferences in the electronic speed control of this vehicle. The consequence have been two crashes due to a sudden unexpected acceleration at full throttle, without any user intervention on the speed control of the vehicle.
Accidents description
First accident: april 26th, 2002
I was stopped at the entry of the parking garage where I have a parking spot. As I had the right foot on the footbrake pedal and was preparing to put my magnetic entry card in the reader machine, the engine of my Corvette suddenly raced and the car ploughed ahead at full throttle, although I continuously applied pressure on the brake pedal. The Corvette C5 accelerated forward at a terrific speed. The car stopped only after I quickly applied the parking brake and cut the ignition.
The car was repaired and appraised by the garage which had sold it to me. The head mechanic, assured me my car was in order when I took it back.
The repair expenses (car, gate of entry and automatic garage door) were very high.
In april/mai 2002, I requested that the garage Belle-Croix and GM Suisse consult a GM expert on that sort of accident. They did not comply with that request.
The dysfunction ocurred once again one year later.
Second accident : may 7th, 2003
As I parked at the bottom of my property, I had, at the end of this parking maneuver, the right foot on the brake pedal, (to slow the car down which at this time crawled, i.e. advanced without giving gas), when again the engine suddenly and violently accelerated. The Corvette stopped against a tree and the trailer of my daughter's boat, but only after I jammed on the brake and cut the ignition.
Remarks
At the time of these two accidents, the Corvette suddenly took off on it's own, the throttle in a full open position, without the driver stepping on the accelerator pedal. I was not able to have any kind of control with the foot brake. The brakes were not effective in stopping the car soon enough to avoid the two accidents. Only switching off the ignition was effective to stop the vehicle.
At the time of these two accidents, except for the factory installed, built in radio/CD, I did not use any electrical appliance such as cellular phone; I had my right foot on the brake pedal and the gear lever was in the Drive position.
When I bought this Corvette, at the time of its delivery, the garage prominently displayed Cadillac and Chevrolet logos touting the dealership factory-approved services and salesmen. This was later revealed to be false!
As any engineer knows, therefore not only one of the specialists in GM for such dysfunctions, like Mr Larry Hocken, given that electronic logic is sensitive to interferences and the Corvette C5 compartment is flooded with violents signals; it was imperative, after the first serious incident, to install a black box or timestamping recording device, filming and recording the actual foot position of the driver, the throttle and brake positions, engine rpm and vehicle speed in order to analyze a possible re-occurence of the event.
I am dismayed at the contempt that General Motor and Chevrolet has with regard to a GM customer, in adition a good customer. However, with the Corvette, in June 1998, I received a very interesting letter of John G Middlebrook, then Chevrolet General manager which said: "Corvette means as much to us as I know it means to you. We truly value our business and are committed to your total satisfaction and enthusiasm"! GM thus promised me, in June 1998, much more than what GM held so far! My Corvette C5 is a defective product, since, on two occasions already, it did not offer the safety which I could legitimely await, taking into account all the circumstances, and in particular of the use which can be reasonably awaited from a vehicle of this price and this power.
For a second identical incident, according to jurisprudence, when the cause of a breakdown remains unknown, the garage is supposed to be responsible. When, on April 26th 2002, I entrusted my Corvette C5 for repair purposes to the garage, it created contractual obligations on the parties. Like any repairing mechanical service, the garage/dealership thus accepted several obligations:
* to repair the vehicle,
* of safety
* and advice.
In other words, as of the moment when, following the first accident, the garage agreed to repair my Corvette C5, it accepted to give it back in perfect operating state and to counsel me correctly. This obligation of the garage is known as binding one.
Nobody of GM examined my Corvette after this first repair by the garage, as I had expressely requested. One can say that the garage was not diligently at all concerning this very important point. Evidently this is a serious professional misconduct.
Concerning the advice obligation: when my husband went to fetch the Corvette, the garage did not warn him, nor myself thereafter, therefore the customer, of the probability of a future repetition of the accident, including dysfunction of the electronics of this vehicle. Which any responsible mechanic must do, specially when it is safety issue, as it was obviously the case. On the contrary, the chief mechanic, assured my husband, who fetched my car at the dealership, that the Corvette C5 was repaired and in perfect order; that such an accident would not occur any more and that the GM specialist had controlled it. A garage mechanic knows that he is not a professional like others. He works on a very powerful object which can be dangerous in the event of a technical failure. Since my Corvette C5 was repaired by the garage, and afterward had the same accident, I regard this garage as the principal responsible for the second accident on May 7th, 2003. This garage did not correctly carry out the required work. Its execution was defective and insufficient, hence, the second accident. As of the responsability, even if the electronics of a Corvette C5 is more complex than wheel bolts, this second accident is not different from a serious personal injury suffered for a GM car owner because of the loss of a wheel badly tightened, after having entrusted his vehicle to a garage.
The manufacturer is the one liable for the electronic defects that were at the origin of the two accidents.
Had I known that a second identical accident could reproduce itself, I would have gotten rid of this vehicle after the first accident.
Conclusion
Being a surgeon, I cannot risk to drive again this "crazy" car. At the time of my first accident, I almost mowed down the parking garage guard. Neither could I take the risk to hurt somebody and I won't have any excuse if a third accident happened and neither would GM, Chevrolet or the garage.
Considering the gravity of this double and identical accident, I see myself forced, not only to renonce driving or using this Corvette anymore, but also to ask that all the Corvettes C5 be subject to a factory recall to control all their electronic, to correct the defects and origin of such dysfunctions and prevent any such accidents.
I have four more questions:
1. Do you know of other such accidents?
2. To which authorities and associations can I announce this defect?
3. Do you know an independent electrical and control enginner or widely recognized engineering institute, who can make a report on this double electronic control system malfunction and unexplained sudden acceleration of my Corvette C5?
4. Do you know a lawyer who is a specialist for such automotives problems?
Amarillys Taylor Schwander MD
Introduction.
My Corvette C5 suffered from a serious and repeated dysfunction of the acceleration system due, -as reported in numerous other instances- to interferences in the electronic speed control of this vehicle. The consequence have been two crashes due to a sudden unexpected acceleration at full throttle, without any user intervention on the speed control of the vehicle.
Accidents description
First accident: april 26th, 2002
I was stopped at the entry of the parking garage where I have a parking spot. As I had the right foot on the footbrake pedal and was preparing to put my magnetic entry card in the reader machine, the engine of my Corvette suddenly raced and the car ploughed ahead at full throttle, although I continuously applied pressure on the brake pedal. The Corvette C5 accelerated forward at a terrific speed. The car stopped only after I quickly applied the parking brake and cut the ignition.
The car was repaired and appraised by the garage which had sold it to me. The head mechanic, assured me my car was in order when I took it back.
The repair expenses (car, gate of entry and automatic garage door) were very high.
In april/mai 2002, I requested that the garage Belle-Croix and GM Suisse consult a GM expert on that sort of accident. They did not comply with that request.
The dysfunction ocurred once again one year later.
Second accident : may 7th, 2003
As I parked at the bottom of my property, I had, at the end of this parking maneuver, the right foot on the brake pedal, (to slow the car down which at this time crawled, i.e. advanced without giving gas), when again the engine suddenly and violently accelerated. The Corvette stopped against a tree and the trailer of my daughter's boat, but only after I jammed on the brake and cut the ignition.
Remarks
At the time of these two accidents, the Corvette suddenly took off on it's own, the throttle in a full open position, without the driver stepping on the accelerator pedal. I was not able to have any kind of control with the foot brake. The brakes were not effective in stopping the car soon enough to avoid the two accidents. Only switching off the ignition was effective to stop the vehicle.
At the time of these two accidents, except for the factory installed, built in radio/CD, I did not use any electrical appliance such as cellular phone; I had my right foot on the brake pedal and the gear lever was in the Drive position.
When I bought this Corvette, at the time of its delivery, the garage prominently displayed Cadillac and Chevrolet logos touting the dealership factory-approved services and salesmen. This was later revealed to be false!
As any engineer knows, therefore not only one of the specialists in GM for such dysfunctions, like Mr Larry Hocken, given that electronic logic is sensitive to interferences and the Corvette C5 compartment is flooded with violents signals; it was imperative, after the first serious incident, to install a black box or timestamping recording device, filming and recording the actual foot position of the driver, the throttle and brake positions, engine rpm and vehicle speed in order to analyze a possible re-occurence of the event.
I am dismayed at the contempt that General Motor and Chevrolet has with regard to a GM customer, in adition a good customer. However, with the Corvette, in June 1998, I received a very interesting letter of John G Middlebrook, then Chevrolet General manager which said: "Corvette means as much to us as I know it means to you. We truly value our business and are committed to your total satisfaction and enthusiasm"! GM thus promised me, in June 1998, much more than what GM held so far! My Corvette C5 is a defective product, since, on two occasions already, it did not offer the safety which I could legitimely await, taking into account all the circumstances, and in particular of the use which can be reasonably awaited from a vehicle of this price and this power.
For a second identical incident, according to jurisprudence, when the cause of a breakdown remains unknown, the garage is supposed to be responsible. When, on April 26th 2002, I entrusted my Corvette C5 for repair purposes to the garage, it created contractual obligations on the parties. Like any repairing mechanical service, the garage/dealership thus accepted several obligations:
* to repair the vehicle,
* of safety
* and advice.
In other words, as of the moment when, following the first accident, the garage agreed to repair my Corvette C5, it accepted to give it back in perfect operating state and to counsel me correctly. This obligation of the garage is known as binding one.
Nobody of GM examined my Corvette after this first repair by the garage, as I had expressely requested. One can say that the garage was not diligently at all concerning this very important point. Evidently this is a serious professional misconduct.
Concerning the advice obligation: when my husband went to fetch the Corvette, the garage did not warn him, nor myself thereafter, therefore the customer, of the probability of a future repetition of the accident, including dysfunction of the electronics of this vehicle. Which any responsible mechanic must do, specially when it is safety issue, as it was obviously the case. On the contrary, the chief mechanic, assured my husband, who fetched my car at the dealership, that the Corvette C5 was repaired and in perfect order; that such an accident would not occur any more and that the GM specialist had controlled it. A garage mechanic knows that he is not a professional like others. He works on a very powerful object which can be dangerous in the event of a technical failure. Since my Corvette C5 was repaired by the garage, and afterward had the same accident, I regard this garage as the principal responsible for the second accident on May 7th, 2003. This garage did not correctly carry out the required work. Its execution was defective and insufficient, hence, the second accident. As of the responsability, even if the electronics of a Corvette C5 is more complex than wheel bolts, this second accident is not different from a serious personal injury suffered for a GM car owner because of the loss of a wheel badly tightened, after having entrusted his vehicle to a garage.
The manufacturer is the one liable for the electronic defects that were at the origin of the two accidents.
Had I known that a second identical accident could reproduce itself, I would have gotten rid of this vehicle after the first accident.
Conclusion
Being a surgeon, I cannot risk to drive again this "crazy" car. At the time of my first accident, I almost mowed down the parking garage guard. Neither could I take the risk to hurt somebody and I won't have any excuse if a third accident happened and neither would GM, Chevrolet or the garage.
Considering the gravity of this double and identical accident, I see myself forced, not only to renonce driving or using this Corvette anymore, but also to ask that all the Corvettes C5 be subject to a factory recall to control all their electronic, to correct the defects and origin of such dysfunctions and prevent any such accidents.
I have four more questions:
1. Do you know of other such accidents?
2. To which authorities and associations can I announce this defect?
3. Do you know an independent electrical and control enginner or widely recognized engineering institute, who can make a report on this double electronic control system malfunction and unexplained sudden acceleration of my Corvette C5?
4. Do you know a lawyer who is a specialist for such automotives problems?
Amarillys Taylor Schwander MD
