2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Suspension, brake, and hydraulic/electric steering discussion.
User avatar
bsparks72
Posts: 284
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 9:29 pm
Location: Katy, Tx

2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by bsparks72 »

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016/03/ ... ng-problem" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's on Fox News, so it may be fake. ;)
-Brandon
2012 9C1 L77 - 228/234, .604/.609 112 cam, JBA shorty headers, Solo high-flow cats, X-pipe, Cherry Bomb single-chamber mufflers (Frankenstein exhaust), Roto-Fab CAI, CTS-V torque converter, 3.45 Camaro diff, G8 red/black seats/steering wheel
User avatar
elc32955
System Manager
Posts: 2718
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:32 am
Location: East Central Florida
Contact:

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by elc32955 »

Real. Details are now up on the recall section of the forums. Replacing all the steering racks. ALSO.... catch this excerpt from a GM bulletin...
GLOBAL SAFETY FIELD INVESTIGATIONS - DCS3965 URGENT - DISTRIBUTE IMMEDIATELY
Date: March 16, 2016
Subject: Stop Delivery Order for Upcoming Safety Recall 22010
Models: 2014-2016 Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicles (PPV)
To: All Chevrolet Dealers

STOP DELIVERY ORDER

Effective immediately, stop the delivery of certain 2014-2016 model year Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicles (PPV) in new or used vehicle inventory. General Motors has notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about an upcoming safety recall that involves these vehicles. The GM recall number is 22010.

It is a violation of federal law for a dealer to deliver a new motor vehicle or any new or used item of motor vehicle equipment (including a tire) covered by this notification until the defect is remedied.

General Motors has decided that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in certain 2014-2016 Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicles (PPV). Subject to the extended idling times and elevated temperatures experienced in typical police applications, these vehicles may experience loss of electric power steering (EPS) assistance while driving or idling as a result of fretting corrosion on the connector between the EPS module and the torque sensor. If power steering is lost, manual steering functionality is retained but would require an increased steering effort, particularly at lower speeds, increasing the risk of a crash. To correct this condition, dealers will replace the steering gear assembly.

Until further instructions are received, involved vehicles that are in dealers’ possession (new or used vehicle inventory, GM Certified Used vehicles, courtesy transportation vehicles, dealer shuttle vehicles, etc.) must be held and not delivered to customers, dealer-traded, released to auction, used for demonstration purposes or any other dealer use. All GM Certified Used vehicles currently in the dealers’ inventory within the Certified Pre-Owned Inventory System (CPOIS) will be de-certified.

GLOBAL SAFETY FIELD INVESTIGATIONS
But wait.... there's more.... from the Part 573 recall report
Chronology :
On September 1, 2015, a GM employee submitted a report to GM’s Speak Up for Safety (SUFS) program after
complaints from the LaGrange, Illinois police department were received regarding loss of power steering in its
Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicle (PPV) fleet.

On October 7, 2015, GM’s Holden division of Australia, the assembler of the affected vehicles, commenced a
formal investigation into the issue. In January 2016, the assigned investigator found that a previous field
action for Model Year 2014 – 2016 Chevrolet Caprice vehicles, in which dielectric grease was applied to the
torque sensor harness to address fretting corrosion in its connectors, did not provide sufficient protection
against fretting corrosion under the heavy usage schedules for police vehicles (often exceeding 20 hours per
day). The investigation found that, because fretting corrosion at the torque sensor harness is a function of
cyclic movement under heat and vibration conditions, the heavy usage schedules for police vehicles caused the
connector between the EPS module and the torque sensor to experience fretting corrosion at a significantly
higher rate than the civilian vehicle population.

The investigation results were reviewed in Open Investigation Review for GM’s International Operations
division on February 25, 2016, GM’s Global Open Investigation Review on March 2, 2015, and GM’s North
American Open Investigation Review on March 7, 2016. On March 9, 2016, GM’s Safety Field Action Decision
Authority (SFADA) decided to conduct a safety recall.

Description of Remedy Program : For vehicles still in transit from the plant, epoxy will be applied to the back
of the connector and at the interface between the connector and the steering gear control unit prior to delivery. For vehicles in the field, dealers will replace the steering gear assembly. Pursuant to 49 C.F.R. § 573.13(d)(1), all covered vehicles are under warranty so reimbursement is not offered.

How Remedy Component Differs from Recalled Component : Replacement steering gears have gold plated terminals resistant to fretting corrosion. For vehicles still in transit from the plant, the epoxy glue application will minimize the relative movement of the connector terminals that causes fretting corrosion.

Recalled Component Name: GEAR ASM-ELEC BELT DRIVE R/PINION STRG

Recalled Component Description: Steering Gear assembly

Recalled Component Part Number: 92280375

Recalled Component Country of Origin: Korea

Identify How/When Recall Condition was Corrected in Production : As of March 11, 2016, epoxy glue is being added to the back of the connector and at the interface between the connector and the steering gear during production.
System Manager and your tour guide for the day. 2015 Caprice w/LFX, former NC DPS staff car. Partial hybrid G8/SS/Camaro SS interior mods, SS MyLink radio upgrade, 2016 Camaro V6 rims, GMPP Malibu chrome exhaust tips, otherwise bone stock for now.
User avatar
elc32955
System Manager
Posts: 2718
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:32 am
Location: East Central Florida
Contact:

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by elc32955 »

Topic moved to the steering sub-forum so we can discuss.

I wonder what took so bloody long for GM to recognize that there was a problem with the power steering assist. We've been talking about this issue here since last September... LE departments have been reporting since mid-2014. This is a repeat from a post I made back in April, 2013.
Electric power steering.... hmmmm.... anyone ever drive a G6 with the electric assist doing the funky chicken? That will be noteworthy of following closely. I recall some issues with the G6 trying to run itself into walls, guardrails, etc... because the electric steering assist went south at a bad moment. Wonder if the SS is going to share this feature?
And a GM employee entered a safety alert in SEPTEMBER, 2015 on this issue? What about the prior 15 months worth of complaints? Some corporate weenies need to be converted into steers for this. Unacceptable performance... again... concerning safety issues.
System Manager and your tour guide for the day. 2015 Caprice w/LFX, former NC DPS staff car. Partial hybrid G8/SS/Camaro SS interior mods, SS MyLink radio upgrade, 2016 Camaro V6 rims, GMPP Malibu chrome exhaust tips, otherwise bone stock for now.
User avatar
storm9c1
Posts: 418
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 6:47 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by storm9c1 »

There's a reason why hydraulics are still preferred in the industrial space over electrics. Hydraulics are a simple system, provide excellent power transfer, and remains very reliable under extreme conditions. I don't trust that electric-assisted steering has any of those virtues. And this is a good example. I wonder if GM is switching to electric steering to prepare for more dumbed down safety features and eventually autonomous driving. Bleh.

I also wonder if the current generation of engineers and designers throw away lessons learned over the past 100 years in the automotive industry because they think their ideas are better. Or they run a computer simulation on it, and it works, so it must be good to go (keep in mind that computer simulations are very accurate and speed up the design process, but over a finite set of conditions). Or perhaps they are too lazy to learn old technology or anything outside of the modern electronic hardware-driven space they learned in college (I know because I deal with engineers everyday).
Tom (AKA: Storm)
2011 Caprice 9C3: L77, 8K miles, first-owner, purchased July 2011.
1995 Caprice 9C1: LT1, 178K miles, summer car.
1995 Impala SS: LT1, 21K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 62K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 128K miles. Rust In Pieces
1994 Caprice 9C1: LT1, beater winter car.
1969 Chevy C30: 383ci stroker, 4L80E, rollback car hauler.
1972 Chrysler Newport: 400ci big block, survivor 27K miles, 2-door hardtop.
1969 Dodge Charger: 383ci big block.
9C1fanatic
Posts: 430
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 8:58 pm
Location: Texas Hill Country

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by 9C1fanatic »

Well I'm irritated that these cars are having this issue just when they get the car right for LE but I'm somewhat glad they have a plan to attempt to address it (with the gold plated connectors in the new racks). That said, it seems a little bogus to me about the excuse for extended idling causing the problems. I'm not an engineer so I'm sure there is much I don't understand but what I do know is some departments like mine still have assigned vehicle fleets where one officer drives the car so max idling is limited to their tours of either 8 10 or 12 hours in most cases. In my experience though, I take full advantage of the aux battery and shut the car off often so my car almost never sees extended idling as a rule. My steering rack in the patrol car failed at 9000 miles and this was after the initial recall of applying dielectric grease to the connector. Many others have suffered the same fate in out fleet with less than 15000 miles (2014s only) so far no 2015s have failed yet. Another factor is the failures seen on the Chevrolet SS which uses the same part number steering rack according to my dealership. According to my local dealer, the EPS is a crucial component in the Chevy SS's parking assist feature where the car can park itself. This is something that I have been told the Caprice has some of the hardware to accomplish but not the sensors or the programming. The SS is not fleet vehicle so explain those failures GM. I haven't been on that forum in a while but maybe the earlier recall is addressing their issues. Finally, simply google EPS problems and you will see millions of vehicles from GM Ford, Toyota and Hyundai to name a few who are recalling vehicles for various EPS problems. Another example of jumping into a technology before we are ready in the name of fancy technology for millennials who think they cant live without it and gaining half a percent on fuel mileage. All those fuel savings will go out the window when you have to pay up on your deductible!

To sum it up, I hate it but I'm glad they are working on a fix. Still, I think I may start buying the components while I can get them new for the 2011-2013 hydraulic set up for use in my personal car when the recalled rack eventually fails or wears out from normal use. It seems like a straight forward swap using all factory parts but I'm sure there is some programming needed in the process.

Note: depending on the source of the definition, I may be a millennial so please take my post as no offense:)
Garner Ames



1975 Pontiac Grand Am L77 - 14.82 @ 92.89
1991 Chevrolet C1500 L31 Vortec/5 Speed
2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LM7
2014 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 L77 - 13.60 @ 105.87
2019 Chevrolet Express 3500 L96
Navy Lifer
Administration Staff
Posts: 1724
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:30 pm
Location: Canton GA

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by Navy Lifer »

Australian Taxi Drivers Target Holden Over Caprice Power Steering Fault
Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2016/04/aus ... z46cQ55yaS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://gmauthority.com/blog/2016/04/aus ... ing-fault/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The SS Sedan is having the same/similar problem....
http://www.ssforums.com/forum/warranty- ... ilure.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another thread in New Caprice Forum:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=883" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Merge threads?
User avatar
elc32955
System Manager
Posts: 2718
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:32 am
Location: East Central Florida
Contact:

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by elc32955 »

Sounds good Bill, go ahead & merge 'em.

Eric
System Manager and your tour guide for the day. 2015 Caprice w/LFX, former NC DPS staff car. Partial hybrid G8/SS/Camaro SS interior mods, SS MyLink radio upgrade, 2016 Camaro V6 rims, GMPP Malibu chrome exhaust tips, otherwise bone stock for now.
Ckedin
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:50 pm

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by Ckedin »

Picking up Caprice from dealer tomorrow morning - they replaced the entire steering rack - have 31k on the car i bought new and ive never had even a small hiccup from the steering - hope I don't have issues now
iboughtonetoo
Posts: 43
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:47 pm
Location: GAWGA

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by iboughtonetoo »

The issue only happens due to corrosion/contamination. It first showed up stateside with Illinois state units because duh winter. Once the connector is compromised it has to be swapped with a new rack as its integrated.

Cars not delivered are just sealed around the connector in some manner (haven't seen, so I cant comment on exact procedure). There is no new rack design iirc. If you don't get winter conditions in your locale I doubt you will ever have that issue. Surprised to see Australians complaining about it. Probably the dust in the outback combined with a flash flood?

ps. Right. 100 out of 60000 aus vehicles. Owner neglect no doubt. They read about the US one and want in on it as well, even though it doesn't even affect them.

I need to take mine at some point. But they keep adding recalls to the list every time I look.
2015 0 days in service. Carpet, factory SL delete. purch @ 86, nov 2016 hit 13000. yeah!
http://i.imgur.com/W52rR3H.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
9C1fanatic
Posts: 430
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 8:58 pm
Location: Texas Hill Country

Re: 2014-2016 electric power steering recall

Post by 9C1fanatic »

This is an old thread but popped up on the recently active list so I thought I would chime in.

Since the last post, a new steering rack has been deployed by GM. It has a different part number but as far as I can tell the difference seems to be gold plated terminals at the connector or something to that effect.

For what its worth, I work at a police department in central Texas and we had 7-8 cars out of 27 2014-2015 cars that had power steering failures around 10,000-20,000 miles even after the initial recall where they put the anti corrosion grease on the connector. All of the failed units were in 2014 cars. When the newer recall was announced earlier this year, we cycled all the Caprices back through the dealership and each and everyone had the entire steering rack replaced under warranty. We have not had a single failure since but its only been 6 months or less. The hill country is not usually known for its humidity as its generally a drier climate and even a few Chevrolet SS cars have had this problem so I am skeptical about GMs response to the problems saying it was caused by fretting due to the long idle hours (heat) a police car sees. But so far, so good on the new racks. When I look up electric power steering recalls on google I see a lot of recalls on many makes of vehicles. It seems to me the technology is a little premature cause everyone is having some problems with it.

I still need to get the one done in my POV. It is a little frustrating on the numerous recalls but I think GM is being a bit oversensitive after the stupid ignition key recalls. One of the latest recalls with the air bag module affects every GM car made between certain years so its not just the Caprice. An the seatbelt one is also one of those rare happenings probably seen by a few departments that run 24 hour fleets with larger (weight) officers using the cars. I'm 6'3" and I never rub (bend) the seat belt anchor cable when I enter and exit the car.
Garner Ames



1975 Pontiac Grand Am L77 - 14.82 @ 92.89
1991 Chevrolet C1500 L31 Vortec/5 Speed
2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LM7
2014 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 L77 - 13.60 @ 105.87
2019 Chevrolet Express 3500 L96
Post Reply