NHTSA Complaint #10659145 — 2007 SATURN AURA

DRIVING NORTH BOUND ON 405 FREEWAY IN LANE 1 (FAST LANE), ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA APPROXIMATELY 70 MPH WITH FLOW OF TRAFFIC AT NIGHT ON THE WAY HOME FROM WORK. THE CAR JERKED SUDDENLY, QUICKLY STARTED TO LOSE SPEED; UNABLE TO REGAIN SPEED WITH PEDAL - CAUSED ADDITIONAL, INTENSE JERKING. CONCURRENTLY, OTHER MOTORISTS BEGAN HONKING AND SWERVING AROUND AS THE CAR CONTINUED TO DECREASE SPEED. SIGNALED FOR LANE CHANGE & BEGAN TO MERGE RIGHT (ACROSS 5 LANES), TURNED ON HAZARD FLASHERS AFTER MERGE INTO FAR RIGHT LANE. CAR COULD GO NO FASTER THAN 35-39 MPH RANGE. EXITED FREEWAY. REVERSE GEAR NO LONGER FUNCTIONAL. VISIT TO GM DEALER NEXT DAY, ADVISED OF WIDESPREAD, KNOWN DESIGN DEFECT TO CLUTCH WAVE PLATE ON 2007-2009 GM CARS WITH 6-SPEED AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION. WAVE PLATE HEATS UP, DISINTEGRATES, AND REMNANTS SHRED INTO THE TRANSMISSION GEARS THAT - WHEN OCCURRING WHILE CAR IS MOVING, AS IT WAS IN OUR CASE - WILL CAUSE POTENTIAL LOSS-OF-CONTROL INCIDENTS SIMILAR TO OURS. HAVE SINCE BEEN INFORMED THAT THE WAVE PLATE DESIGN DEFECT EXISTS IN ALL 3.6L V6 - 6-SPEED AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION EQUIPPED MODELS OF CHEVROLET MALIBU 2008-2009, CHEVROLET EQUINOX 2007-2009, GMC ACADIA 2007-2009, SATURN AURA 2007-2009, SATURN VUE 2007-2009, AND SATURN OUTLOOK 2007-2009. THE WAVE PLATE COMPONENT WAS REDESIGNED BY GM IN 2009, BUT GM DID NOT AS HAS NOT RECALLED ANY OF THESE MODELS FOR THIS CONDITION. EVEN MORE CONCERNING, IN SPITE OF NUMEROUS INCIDENTS REPORTED ON THE NHTSA WEBSITE AND ALL OVER THE INTERNET (JUST GOOGLE "GM WAVE PLATE" - IT'S NOW SO PROLIFIC, THAT IT AUTOMATICALLY POPS UP AS A SEARCH SUGGESTION), NHTSA HAS YET TO EVEN OPEN AN INVESTIGATION. THIS DANGEROUS, POTENTIALLY DEADLY DEFECT EXISTS AND WILL LIKELY FAIL - IT'S NOT A MATTER OF "IF," IT'S A MATTER OF "WHEN" - ON ALL OF THE AFOREMENTIONED MODELS PRODUCED. PLEASE, NHTSA, OPEN THIS AS AN INVESTIGATION. *TR