NHTSA Complaint #10638335 — 2006 BUICK LACROSSE

STEERING KNUCKLE- WAS REPLACED ONCE YEARS AGO UNDER WARRANTY BUT IS NOW STARTING TO MAKE NOISE AGAIN CONSISTENTLY WORSE FOR THE LAST 1-2 YEARS.FOR MONTHS NOW, WE'VE NOTICED THAT OCCASIONALLY THE CAR WILL ACT WEIRD. THE THROTTLE WILL BE LESS RESPONSIVE AND IT WILL ALMOST ACT LIKE IT'S MISSING ON A COUPLE CYLINDERS OR SO, BUT IT HAS NEVER SET A CODE FOR IT. THE SHIFT POINTS ARE RAISED AND YOU HAVE TO DRASTICALLY GIVE IT MORE THROTTLE TO GET THE CAR TO ACCELERATE, BUT WHEN IT DOES, IT KINDA LIKE SURGES AND THEN IT SHIFTS HARDER. ONCE IT IS IN ROAD GEAR AND CRUISING, THE CAR SURGES WHILE AT A CONSTANT SPEED, IT CAN BE FELT THAT THE CAR SURGES AND DOESN'T REMAIN TOTALLY SMOOTH AND CONSISTENT LIKE IT SHOULD. AN ENGINE RESTART USUALLY STOPS IT FOR THAT TIME. WE HAVE THE SAME SPORADIC PROBLEM AND HAVE HAD FOR YEARS ON OUR '98 OLDS EIGHTY-EIGHT WITH A 3800 ENGINE ALSO. BOTH CARS ARE NOW DOING THE EXACT SAME THING OCCASIONALLY, ARE 8 MODEL YEARS APART, BOTH HAVE THE 3800 ENGINE BUT ONE IS A SERIES II ENGINE AND THE OTHER IS A SERIES III. WE JUST NOTICED THE PAST FEW MONTHS THAT THE CAR IS STARTING TO MAKE FRONT END NOISES LIKE THE FRONT STABILIZER BAR IS BROKE, SO I LOOKED AT IT RECENTLY AND NOTICED THAT THE LEFT SIDE OF IT WHERE IT CONNECTS TO THE LOWER CONTROL ARM IS STRESS FRACTURED IN HALF. *TR