NHTSA Complaint #10409576 — 2005 BUICK LESABRE

INSTRUMENT LIGHTS ON RADIO, HEAT/AIR CONTROLS, STEERING WHEEL RADIO/CRUISE CONTROL CONTROLS STARTED BURNING OUT ONE BY ONE. THINKING THAT IT WOULD BE A SIMPLE, CHEAP FIX, I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER. AT THAT TIME, THEY INFORMED ME THAT THEY COULD NO LONGER JUST FIX THE BURNED OUT BULBS, BUT HAD TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE ELECTRICAL MODULE JUST TO FIX THE LIGHT. WHAT WAS ONCE A $10-$20 FIX HAS NOW BECOME A $150-$200 FIX PER MODULE. ONE MODULE CAN CONTAIN ONE OR TWO LIGHT BULBS, SO IF YOU HAVE 6 OR 8 BURNED OUT BULBS, IT CAN COST YOU UP TO $1600 TO FIX! SECONDLY, AROUND SEPTEMBER 2010, THE RPM GAUGE PEGGED OUT AND THEN DROPPED TO THE SIX O'CLOCK POSITION. EVER SINCE THEN, SOMETIMES IT WORKS ERRATICALLY AND SOMETIMES NOT AT ALL. THEN, ABOUT JANUARY 2011, MY FUEL GAUGE STARTED DOING THE SAME THING. WHEN MY TANK WAS FULL, IT WOULD READ EMPTY OR HALF FULL. AFTER RE-STARTING MY CAR, IT WOULD GO BACK TO NORMAL, ONLY TO ACT FUNNY THE NEXT TIME I STARTED THE CAR. I NOTICED THAT THERE WAS A RECALL ON OTHER GM CARS THAT USED THE SAME DEFECTIVE STEPPER MOTORS THAT ARE INSTALLED IN THE 2002-2005 BUICK LESABRES, BUT FOR SOME REASON, THE LESABRES WERE NOT INCLUDED IN THE RECALL WHERE GM WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE REPLACEMENT COST ON THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER. THIS ISN'T RIGHT! WITH FAULTY INSTRUMENT PANELS, IT ISN'T SAFE TO DRIVE! AND IF YOU WANT TO GET IT REPLACED,IT WILL COST YOU AROUND $800-900!!!!