NHTSA Complaint #10875507 — 2008 GMC ACADIA

2008 ACADIA PURCHASED NEW. NOTICED POWER STEERING BECOMING MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT AT LOW ENGINE SPEED OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. FLUID LEVEL OK. TOOK TO DEALER TO ASSESS AND QUOTE. THEY SAID IT WAS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH ACADIA, TRAVERSE, OUTLOOK, AND ENCLAVE. THEY SAID IT NEEDED POWER STEERING PUMP, RESERVOIR AND STEERING RACK, ABOUT 1,100 DOLLARS TO FIX. THEY SAID GM HAD EXTENDED THE WARRANTY TO 120,000 AND MY VEHICLE WAS NOT COVERED. 152,000 ACTUAL MILES. I GOOGLED THIS PROBLEM AND FOUND OUT JUST HOW COMMON IT IS, AND THAT THE WARRANTY COVERAGE ACTUALLY WAS TO 150,225 MILES. I CALLED THE GMC CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT CENTER AFTER STEWING OVER THIS FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS. THEY SAID THAT SINCE I WAS BEYOND THE ALLOWED MILEAGE, THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO. I WAS TALKING WITH MY BOSS ABOUT THIS. HE HAS A 2009 ENCLAVE WITH 60K MILES. HE IS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM WITH STEERING, AND DEALER TOLD HIM IT WAS NOT COVERED. I SHOWED HIM WHAT I HAD FOUND. HE IS GOING BACK TO THE DEALER WITH DOCUMENTATION. THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE WHEN STEERING IS ENTIRELY MANUAL AT LOW ENGINE SPEED FOR INSTANCE PULLING INTO A PARKING SPOT OR DRIVE. EVEN TURNING A CORNER WHEN NOT ACCELERATING. PARALLEL PARKING IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. GM SHOULD HAVE RECALLED THESE VEHICLES. I AM GOING TO HAVE TO PAY TO GET THIS FIXED. GM HAS JUST LOST A CUSTOMER.