NHTSA Complaint #11489374 — 2018 CHEVROLET TAHOE

A lifter collapsed, which in turn damaged the lobes of a piston, which then damaged the camshaft...generating a repair bill of $7,100 per the dealer. The vehicle only has 69,200 miles on it. When the lifter failed, the car shuddered at stops, lost some power and made a noticeable clanking noise. When pulling out from stops, or into traffic, the car hesitated somewhat before accelerating. This creates a very dangerous situation. Also, if more lifters or the camshaft seized up at higher speeds, a driver could experience a potentially fatal situation from an uncontrollable vehicle or a fire. Research shows that Chevy/GM knew about the lifter problem on 5.3 ltr engines with their AFM system for years and sold them anyway. They apparently have never solved the problem, and it still exists today. Several class action lawsuits have been lodged against them for the lifter failure problem. Aside from the serious potential safety issues, an expensive vehicle like my Tahoe should not be expected to incur a $7,100 repair bill when it's only 4 years old and has less then 70,000 miles on it. That's ridiculous. My wife and I are both retired. We will be tapping our retirement account to pay for this shoddy Chevy product and will worry that it just might occur again, after the fix. From a safety standpoint, a stall, loss of power, or engine seizure at speed will tax our quick response reflexes. The known lifter problem is a legitimate safety situation and needs to be addressed before someone is seriously injured or killed...if they haven't already. Thank you for listening.