NHTSA Complaint #10386062 — 2006 PONTIAC TORRENT

HEAT WENT OUT WITH OUT WARNING. UPON RESEARCHING ONLINE FOUND IT'S A COMMON PROBLEM AND SHOULD BE RECALLED. THE ACTUATOR WAS THE CAUSE OF THE BROKEN SHAFT ON THE BLEND DOOR. THE ACTUATOR HAD ROTATED TOO FAR, BEYOND ITS LIMITS, AND OVERPOWERED THE PLASTIC SHAFT ON THE DOOR. THIS ACTUATOR ISN'T JUST A SIMPLE MOTOR. AS YOU KNOW, AN ELECTRIC MOTOR SPINS WHEN POWER IS APPLIED. THE ACTUATOR IS A SMALL ELECTRIC MOTOR CONNECTED TO A GEAR-REDUCTION UNIT, WITH A POSITION-SENSING DEVICE THAT IS MONITORED BY THE BODY CONTROL MODULE (BCM), WHICH IS A COMPUTER THAT CONTROLS A BUNCH OF STUFF NOT RELATED TO THE ENGINE OR POWERTRAIN. WHEN THE POSITION SENSOR INDICATES THAT THE ACTUATOR IS AT THE END OF ITS RANGE OF TRAVEL, THE BCM SHUTS OFF POWER TO THE MOTOR. THE OUTPUT SHAFT ON THE ACTUATOR SHOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO REACH THE DEGREE OF ROTATION THAT IS SHOWN ABOVE. WHY DID THAT HAPPEN? DID THE BCM MALFUNCTION AND APPLY POWER TOO LONG? I DOUBT IT... BECAUSE ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS ARE LESS LIKELY TO MALFUNCTION THAN ELECTRO-MECHANICAL DEVICES. I'M GOING TO HAVE TO ASSUME THAT THE ACTUATOR IS FAULTY... THAT THE POSITION-SENSING DEVICE (PROBABLY JUST A VARIABLE RESISTOR) DEVELOPED AN OPEN CIRCUIT, OR AN INTERNAL SHORT CIRCUIT, OR SOMETHING. THIS KIND OF PROBLEM BUGS ME (AND A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE) BECAUSE GENERAL MOTORS HAS NOT ISSUED A RECALL TO FIX WHAT CAN BE A SAFETY PROBLEM... NO HEAT MEANS YOU CAN'T DEFROST OR DE-FOG YOUR WINDSHIELD. WHAT'S WORSE... GM HAS NOT EVEN ISSUED A TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN (TSB) ABOUT THIS PROBLEM TO ADVISE DEALERSHIP SERVICE DEPARTMENTS ABOUT THE HOW'S AND WHY'S OF THIS MALFUNCTION. SO I'M A BIT CONCERNED THAT THE NEW ACTUATOR MIGHT MALFUNCTION JUST LIKE THE FIRST ONE. IF GM HAD ISSUED A TSB, I'D BE ASSURED THAT THE ENGINEERS HAD SOLVED THE FAULTY ACTUATOR PROBLEM, AND THAT ALL THE REPLACEMENT PARTS HAD BEEN REVISED AND IMPROVED, AND THE HEAT WOULD WORK JUST FINE FOR YEARS TO COME. BUT I DON'T HAVE THAT CONFIDENCE. RECALL NEEDED. DANGEROUS. *TR