NHTSA Complaint #11430332 — 2017 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN

The condenser has a faulty design and cracks, causing it to leak flammable R1234YF coolant in the engine bay. Additionally, this leak causes the AC system to stop cooling, thus making the inside of the vehicle a very dangerous place, particularly during summer months, as it is impossible to cool. There are thousands of reports of this issue on all Chevy/GM models between 2015-2020 including tahoe, silverado, suburban, and yukons. The manufacturer has put out a "special coverage 17336" adjustment but it only covers the vehicles up to 60,000 miles and because it's not part of a recall it's not automatically sent out to the owners of the vehicles. Further, a large number of vehicles are well beyond the 60,000 mile limit in the special coverage before the owner ever learns of the issue. According to SAE J1739, "Manufacturers must conduct Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) as provided in SAE J1739 (adopted 2009). Manufacturers must keep the FMEA on file for at least three years from the date of creation." I would challenge that chevrolet did not do this FMEA testing or did not do it per standard as it would have shown this issue. Instead they moved forward with production affecting hundreds of thousands of their most popular vehicles from 2015-2020 and resulting in the consumer having to pay an average of $1100 in repair costs due to a known defect from the manufacturer.