NHTSA Complaint #10160129 — 2004 CHEVROLET MALIBU

DURING MY EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT WITH DELPHI AUTOMOTIVE (DELPHI SAGINAW STEERING SYSTEM, 3900 E. HOLLAND AVE., SAGINAW, MICHIGAN 48601), I WAS INSTRUCTED TO CONDUCT A SCREW "STRIP-OUT" STUDY ON THE ELECTRIC MOTOR/CONTROLLER ASSEMBLY OF THE ELECTRIC POWER STEERING (EPS) SYSTEM OF THE GENERAL MOTOR'S EPSILON PLATFORM (MY 2003.5 - 2006 MALIBU). THIS STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN MAY OF 2004 AT DELPHI'S PLANT 1, EPS ASSEMBLY. THE STUDY INCLUDED TEN PRODUCTION MOTOR AND TEN PRODUCTION CONTROLLER ASSEMBLIES THAT WERE ASSEMBLED ON THE PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT AND PROCESS(ES). THE CONTROLLER IS ATTACHED TO MOTOR BY THREE M 5.0X 0.8 SCREWS. THE RESULT OF THAT STUDY CONCLUDED THAT FOUR OF THE TEN MOTOR/CONTROLLER ASSEMBLIES HAD AT LEAST ONE OF THE SCREWS FULLY STRIPPED WITH LESS THAN 50% OF THE DESIGN INTENDED RETENTION AND WITH TWO ASSEMBLIES WITH TWO FULLY STRIPPED SCREWS. THIS REPORT WAS SHARED WITH MY IMMEDIATE ENGINEERING MANAGER WHOM THEN REPORTED TO SEVERAL OTHER PRODUCT ENGINEER MANAGERS OF THE EPS GROUP IN SAGINAW, MICHIGAN. IT WAS UNIVERSALLY UNDERSTOOD THAT PLANT 1 HAD AN ASSEMBLY ISSUE WITH THIS PROCESS AND THAT THERE WAS NO EFFECTIVE CONTAINMENT PROCESS IN PLACE TO SCRAP ALL SUSPECTED STRIPPED ASSEMBLIES. THE FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION FROM MY MANAGERS THAT I UNDERSTOOD WAS THAT UAW ASSEMBLY MEMBERS WERE INQUIRED TO AGREE AMONG THEMSELVES A BUILD SEQUENCE FOR THE CONTROLLER FASTENING PROCESS SO THAT THE COMPONENTS COULD BE REDESIGNED FOR BETTER ASSEMBLY. THIS ITEM WAS NOT PURSUED BECAUSE IT WAS UNCLEAR TO WHICH PARTY (THE ASSEMBLY PLANT OR THE PRODUCT ENGINEERING GROUP) WAS TO CHAMPION THE NECESSARY CHANGE. THE RESULTANT FAILURE MODE IS POSSIBLE MIGRATION OF THE CONTROLLER FROM THE MOTOR ASSEMBLY. THIS MIGRATING MAY RESULT IN LOSS OF VEHICLE STEERING AND/OR VEHICLE FIRE DUE THE POWER (MOTOR) PHASE LEADS "SHORTING OUT ". MORE INFORMATION IS TO BE SUBMITTED WITH COMPLIANT (PER MARTINA AND DEBRA OF NHSTA 19JN06). *NM