NHTSA Complaint #11360448 — 2015 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN

ON VERY RANDOM BUT NUMEROUS OCCASIONS BEGINNING YEARS AGO, THE LIFTGATE WILL IT WILL CLOSE ON ITS OWN OR IT WILL NOT OPEN AT ALL. THE LIFTGATE IS EITHER OPENED REMOTELY BY KEY FOB, INTERIOR BUTTON OR BY USING THE BUTTON ON THE LIFTGATE HANDLE. AS THE LIFTGATE OPENS TO IT'S OPEN POSITION, IT HAS ON SOME OCCASIONS SOUNDED THE WARNING SIGNAL INDICATING THE LIFTGATE IS CLOSING WHILE LOADING OR UNLOADING ITEMS AND ON OTHER OCCASIONS THE LIFTGATE AUTOMATICALLY CLOSES ON ITS OWN, VERY ABRUPTLY, WITHOUT ANY WARNING SIGNAL. BOTH TYPES OF INSTANCES HAVE OCCURRED WHILE BEING UNDER THE LIFTGATE CAUSING ME TO BE STRUCK AND HURT. RECENTLY (AUG '20), IT OCCURRED WHILE HAVING MY TIRE CHANGED BY A SERVICE PROVIDER WHO WAS ALSO STRUCK. I HAVE LOOKED INTO THIS CONCERN ONLINE AND HAVE NOTICED QUITE A FEW COMPLAINTS BY 2015 GM OWNERS OVER THIS SAME ISSUE. I ALSO FOUND THAT THERE WERE 17 BULLETINS IN 18 MONTHS FROM APRIL 2014- OCT 2015 REGARDING LIFTGATE ISSUES FOR THIS SAME YEAR MODEL, INCLUDING A RECALL THAT WAS MENTIONED ON A GM FORUM (RECALL #14300????). THIS IS A TRAGEDY WAITING TO HAPPEN TO SOMEONE IF IT HASN'T ALREADY! THE LIFTGATE IS VERY HEAVY AND THE FIRST TIME IT FELL ON ME, IT DID LEAVE ABRASIONS AND CONTUSIONS. I WAS 125 LBS. SOMEONE HALF MY WEIGHT WOULD NEVER WITHSTAND THAT IMPACT! I WOULD NEVER HAVE ANYONE ELSE GO NEAR THIS LIFTGATE TO LOAD/UNLOAD MY VEHICLE AS IT IS A SERIOUS LIABILITY! PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS! ALL OCCURRENCES OBVIOUSLY HAPPENED WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS STATIONERY, AT TIMES WITH THE CAR IDOLING IN THE PARKED POSITION BUT MOSTLY AFTER THE ENGINE WAS TURNED OFF. THE GROUND LEVEL DIDN'T SEEM TO AFFECT IT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. IT HAS HAPPENED ON FLAT GROUND AND ON A SLOPES DRIVEWAY. ***PLEASE NOTE I HAVE 2 VIDEOS FROM THE MOST RECENT OCCURRENCE (9/20/20) THAT I AM NOT ABLE TO ATTACH BUT WILL PROVIDE.IF NECESSARY***