NHTSA Complaint #11686104 — 2016 CHEVROLET COLORADO

The power steering will suddenly go out while a “Stabilitrak” warning comes up on the display. There are many reports of this problem documented online in this year and model, and the 2015 had a recall for this known issue that was evidently not resolved OR recalled for the 2016 model. Suddenly losing power steering when traveling at highway speed or making a turn is a tremendous crash risk as it is very difficult to turn the wheel and the responsiveness and ability to turn quickly is greatly diminished. I and my wife have both almost crashed when this has happened. Most of the time turning the vehicle off and then on again will reset and reactivate power steering, other times it does not. I have called two Chevy dealerships who acknowledged an awareness of this problem, but difficult to replicate the problem on demand, and not always the same repair but almost always related to the steering rack and cable bundle. As I understand it, replacing the entire rack is about a $2000+ repair that based on anecdotal information online seems to resolve the problem. I am shocked Chevy/GMC is willing to assume this liability and not issue a recall or at least offer some kind of reimbursement option for doing the right thing and getting the repair done rather than place others at risk on the roads. This problem has been going on and off for the past year.