NHTSA Complaint #10016477 — 1997 GMC SAFARI

97 SAFARI CONSISTENTLY SETS P1870 CODE, TRANSMISSION SLIPS WHEN WARMED UP. THE VEHICLE SHIFT EXTREMELY HARD (ACTUALLY SLIP)1ST-2ND-3RD. HARD ENOUGH A SIGNIFICANT CHANCE OF U-JOINT BREAKAGE, UNCONTROLLED TIRE SPINNING ON ICE/SLICK ROADS, (I HAVE EXPERIENCED),WHIPLASH TYPE EXPERIENCE UNDER MODERATE ACCELERATION. THIS SUDDEN SHIFT ALSO ATTRIBUTED TO CAUSING INTERIOR COMPONENTS SUCH AS CENTER CONSOLE TO SHAKE LOOSE. SEVERAL INSTANCES HAVE CAUSED ITEMS IN CENTER COLUMN CUP HOLDER TO FALL OUT AND SPILL. GM HAS TSB ON RECORD AND RECOGNIZES THIS AFFECTS 96-02 GM VEHICLES WITH THE 4L60E TRANS(VANS, SUV'S, REAR WHEEL DRIVE CARS AND FRONT WHEEL DRIVE CARS WITH SIMILAR TRANSMISSION). GM RECOGNIZES IN THEIR TSB OF AN INEFFECTIVE VALVE BODY AND THAT THIS IS A "POSSIBLE" PROBLEM AND GOES ON TO STATE IT WAS CORRECTED IN LATE '02 MFG VEHICLES AND THERE ARE NO "RECALLS". IT PROVIDES EXACT INFORMATION REGARDING THE ABOVE PROBLEM (TSB SAYS "CUSTOMER COMPLAINT") GM DEALERS ARE CHARGING CUSTOMERS "OUTRAGEOUS" FIGURES FOR TRANS REPLACE ONLY FOR THE CUSTOMER TO HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM AS SOON AS 10K MILES AS THE NEW TRANS IS STILL THE "OLD" MODEL WITH THE DEFECTIVE VALVE BODY. GM FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT A REPLACEMENT TRANS IS NOT NECESSARY(UNLESS "PROVEN" FAILURE) GM FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGES THE CODE P1870 IN A GM STC CLASS (#17040.01), HOW TO DETERMINE THE FAULT EVEN THOUGH A SIMPLE TSB EXISTS FOR THIS. SEVERAL TSB'S AS REFERENCE (THERE ARE MORE)#01-07-30-012,020 #99-07-30-005 #77-71-75 #02-07-30-001,030,042. SIMPLY SEARCHING THE WEB FOR P1870 WILL RESULT IN CONFIRMATION OF SAID COMPLAINT. *JB