NHTSA Complaint #11352928 — 2010 CHEVROLET CAMARO

WATER SHORTED THE APP CIRCUITS AND CAUSED THE THROTTLE TO ACTIVATE WITH OUT DRIVER INPUT. WATER IS A POTENTIAL CAUSE FOR SUDDEN UNINTENDED ACCELERATION IN VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH POTENTIOMETER TYPE APP SENSOR'S THROUGH EXTENSIVE RESEARCH BETWEEN AUGUST 2019 AND SEPTEMBER 2020, I HAVE DETERMINED THAT A WATER INTRUSION PROBLEM INTO THE INSTRUMENT PANEL (IP) TO BODY HARNESS CONNECTOR, WHICH CARRIES THE APP SENSOR SIGNALS TO THE ECM/PCM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE SUDDEN UNINTENDED ACCELERATION IN MANY OF THE 2005-2018 GM PRODUCT LINE. WATER CAN ENTER THE CONNECTOR THROUGH BODY LEAKS AND MAY CAUSE AN INCREASE IN VOLTAGE ON APP 1 AND APP 2. ON SOME VEHICLES THIS CAN ALSO CAUSE A MALFUNCTION IN THE BPP/BRAKE SWITCH STATUS CIRCUIT. AS A RESULT THIS MALFUNCTION CAN MISTAKENLY APPEAR AS A PEDAL MISAPPLICATION IN THE EDR REPORT FROM THE SDM. THIS FINDING APPLIES TO MANY OTHER VEHICLE USING A POTENTIOMETER TYPE APP SENSOR BUT THE RESEARCH WAS DONE SPECIFICALLY ON GM VEHICLES. I HAVE ALSO DETERMINED WATER INTRUSION INTO THE CONNECTOR 109 ON THE FULL SIZE TRUCK LINE HAS THE POSSIBILITY TO CAUSE FALSE ACTIVATION OF THE APP CIRCUIT. USING WATER I HAVE CONFIRMED THAT WATER CAN CAUSE THE VOLTAGE INCREASE ON APP CIRCUIT 1 AND APP CIRCUIT 2 AND NOT ENTER REDUCED POWER MODE, IT ALL COMES DOWN TO SURFACE AREA EXPOSED AND SODIUM CONTENT IN THE WATER AS TO THE FINAL RESULTS. AS THESE VEHICLES BECOME OLDER THE LIKELY HOOD OF THESE EVENTS OCCURRING INCREASES. VEHICLES NEAR SALT WATER OR WHERE SALT IS USED ON THE ROADS ARE MORE LIKELY TO FAIL WITH HIGHER APP %. BECAUSE OF THE KNOWN WATER LEAK INTO THE CONNECTOR'S CONTAINING APP WIRES AND VERIFICATION THAT WATER CAN CAUSE FALSE ACTIVATION OF THE APP CIRCUITS. IT IS MY CONCLUSION IN RARE EVENTS THIS WATER COULD CAUSE FALSE ACTIVATION OF BOTH APP SIGNAL IN MANY OF THE 2005-2018 GM VEHICLES. THIS VEHICLE WAS USED FOR CONFIRMATION.