Recently, a lawsuit has brought to light an interesting situation facing General Motors. When the company went into bankruptcy in 2009, a new entity officially called, “New GM” came out the other side, leaving “Old GM” holding all the so called “toxic assets”, junky real estate, and anything else deemed worthless. Old GM was liquidated for pennies on the dollar and New GM went about the work of designing and building cars, after getting billions in taxpayer bailout funds. This lawsuit centers around a possible defect in the suspension of 2007 and 2008 Chevy Impalas. This is a problem that could involve up to 400,000 cars. The rub is that “New GM” claims they are not responsible for such defects because they were created by “Old GM” which, on paper is another company.
Current General Motors leadership is saying that they will honor warranty work on those cars built before the birth of New GM but that they should not be responsible for the recalls of said products. In come circumstances, this argument would hold water, but in our opinion it is faulty in this situaiton. Why? Well, they are virtually the same company employing the same engineers, building cars in virtually all the same factories, etc. It would be one thing if they bought the Impala molds after 2009 and took over the manufacturing the cars, but they didn’t. Other than the name on the legal documents it is the same company.
That’s our take…what’s yours?
Should “New” GM be responsible for the recalls and faults of cars built by “Old” GM?
Darned right they should be !!!
A GM is a GM no matter what era it was made
This ploy by the ” new ” GM is probably the single biggest Automotive Con of the 2010’s
I have a 2007 Impala. There is no camber adjustment on the rear struts, tire wear is horrible. many were built way out of GM’s own spec, mine is 1/2 degree out of spec, but cannot be adjusted. The cure is adjustable camber bolts from NAPA, but the struts must come out and holes elongated. GM ate this on cop cars, but on everyone else it’s “normal wear”. They feel tire rotation every 3000 miles is the cure.
The only way I could see “new” GM not honoring the warranties of cars made in the last 3 years would be if they had fired all of the old UAW workers and their non union managers who made those cars and replaced them. That didn’t happen.
Sorry to you hardcore GM guys but General Motors isnt GM anymore. Especially as long as the Government (specifically this one) controls them. It is Government Motors.
@ 69Chevelle 454
The Government NO Longer controls GM . They just haven’t paid us ( US Tax Payer ) back yet , but all government intervention ended 18 months ago
So like it or not , its still GM .
GM is GM is GM. Of course they are responsible, like it or not.
They should be responsible. It’s just another way for them to worm there way of a design flaw that should have been caught in the R&D Stage of Development with the newer body style Impala’s.
It’s just like the Ford/Firestone Tire Issue from a few years back.
Not sayin’ it’s right or moral, but the new GM is NOT the old GM. That’s why they went thru all the hoops they went thru to become the new GM. It sucks but that’s the way the law works, as I understand it.
Either way, GM would be ahead if they fixed this issue. The more they can do to sew the seeds of good customer relations the better. Assuming the goal is to keep the company alive they NEED repeat customers and the only way to get them is to stand behind their products regardless of which GM made them. Customers do not understand nor care about the finer points of the law.
Dan
Did anyone expect different from a domestic auto manufacturer? GM has been making sh*t vehicles for decades, and is still making sh*t vehicles.
GuitarSlinger
No the Government controls 72 percent of the company and still has an over seer’s over the company. And GM still gets some intervention from the Government, such as the Volt. Think it would have been produced without the Government insistence? Mopar and Ford didnt, then again Mopar paid back all of its loans as has Ford – Yes ford did get a 9 billion dollar bail out as well.
the thing is about the recall is it’s only the 07 and 08 impala. but EVERY W-body uses the exact same suspention parts besides the LS4 v8s (they had hollow squar tubing trailing arms)and the police/taxi services cars (they had solid round bar). they have also used the exact same suspention sense 1997 when the fist second gen W came out the 97-03 body style grand prix and used it untill the ’11 modle year impala.
i would think we would of heard something by now after 14 years of use and not only on 2 modle years of one modle. the fre recal at least covers every single one
oldrustycars
there is adjustment you adjust tow and camber at the same time with the latreral arms. most shops just never relise this and think it is toe only.
i just buy the camber bolts problem fixed
The president said the US would stand behind those warranties. Pull up behind the White House next to Joe Biden’s Firebird and someone should be right with you.
After a couple people die in fiery deaths, and NBC get a hold of the story, they will.
This is silly. I work at a GM dealership. We;re still doing recalls for all model years.
Its a trivial small case with minimal if any engineering merit. Normally they’d just give the lady a couple tires and send her on her way.
GM lawyers are simply using this to establish legal precedent to cover their behinds in case something “big” comes up in the future. Insurance.
Whether or not GM should cover these recalls legally is not as revelant as whether they can lose a half million customers by not fixing these problems. Good way to make sure those car owners don’t buy another GM the rest of their lives.