NHTSA Complaint #10510529 — 2008 BUICK ENCLAVE

STEERING WOULD CLICK, GRIND & KNOCK WHILE DRIVING, PARTICULARLY WHEN TURNING. WE TOOK OUR ENCLAVE TO AN INDEPENDENT SHOP WHERE THEY FOUND THAT THE RACK AND PINION ASSEMBLY HAD TO BE COMPLETELY REPLACED. IT WAS A SAFETY CONCERN, SO WE HAD THE INDEPENDENT SHOP REPLACE THE RACK AND PINION ASSEMBLY IMMEDIATELY. I'VE CONTACTED GM AS WELL AS THE LOCAL DEALERSHIP SEVERAL TIMES REGARDING THIS ISSUE. ASKING FOR REIMBURSEMENT OF REPAIR COSTS SINCE THIS IS A DESIGN FLAW BY GM, NOT A CONSUMER DRIVING ISSUE. I HAVE 60K MILES ON MY 2008 ENCLAVE AND ALL MAINTENANCE HAS BEEN KEPT UP TO DATE ON THIS VEHICLE AND WE ARE THE ORIGINAL OWNERS. I WAS TOLD THAT THEY WOULD IN NO WAY REIMBURSE ME BECAUSE ONE I TOOK THE VEHICLE TO AN INDEPENDENT SHOP NOT A DEALERSHIP AND TWO MY BUMPER TO BUMPER WARRANTY IS OUT AND RACK AND PINION ASSEMBLY IS UNDER BUMPER TO BUMPER NOT THE POWER TRAIN WARRANTY WHICH IS AVAILABLE TO US FOR THE NEXT YEAR (APPROX). I TOLD GM THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL POSTINGS ON THE INTERNET (INCLUDING NHTSA.GOV) REGARDING RACK AND PINION ISSUES WITH THE ENCLAVE. I WAS TOLD THAT THE INTERNET WAS FREE AND ANYONE COULD POST ON THERE. MY RESPONSE BACK WAS I PERSONALLY KNOW TWO ENCLAVE OWNERS THAT THIS HAPPENED TO AND THEIR REPAIRS WERE COVERED BY BUICK BECAUSE THEIR WARRANTY HADN'T EXPIRED. GM TOLD ME THERE IS NO RECALL TO DATE. I FIND THIS TO BE DISAPPOINTING AS THERE OBVIOUS DESIGN FLAW ISSUES WITH THE ENCLAVE. I AM GETTING THE RUN AROUND AND ON MY LATEST CALL WITH A SUPERVISOR AT GM I WAS TOLD THAT HE WOULD PASS THE INFORMATION TO HIS MANAGER, BUT I PROBABLY WOULDN'T GET A CALL BACK BECAUSE THEY ARE MORE HR THEY DON'T HANDLE CUSTOMER ISSUES. I WAS TOLD TO SEND A LETTER TO GM VIA USPS. THE ENCLAVE IS UNSAFE TO DRIVE AS THE STEERING CAN LOCK UP AT ANY TIME. I BELIEVE THAT THIS SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED MORE CLOSELY AND AS A RESULT I BELIEVE A RECALL WILL BE DONE. *TR