NHTSA Complaint #11419915 — 2016 CHEVROLET TRAVERSE

The power steering pump went out on my 2016 Chevy Traverse which has 34,700 miles on it. At low RPMs the pump would intermittently fail and lock up the steering wheel. This means that when decelerating and attempting to avoid an accident my power steering could have failed causing me to be unable to avoid an otherwise avoidable accident. I was close to hitting another car in a parking lot when I was turning into a parking spot and the power steering failed, but I was able to slam on the brakes in time. I was able to bring it into a mechanic and get it fixed within two days. They were able to test the system and replicate the issues I was having. $1060.05 later I have a new OEM pump installed. The mechanic informed me that the pump he installed was a superseded part by GM. So GM knows it's a junk part and aren't using it anymore but don't care about the customers who bought the junk part originally. The bad pump has been disposed of by the mechanic. I paid for this out of pocket, and did not show this to the police, insurance, or manufacture. There were no warning lights or other indications that the steering was going out, I was simply driving home from work and noticed an intermittent lose of power steering on 6/2/21. I was able to get the vehicle home and fixed by the mechanic the next day 6/3/21.