NHTSA Complaint #742409 — 1998 GMC JIMMY

IGNITION SWITCH: GAUGES WENT TO ZERO, ALL IDIOT LIGHTS CAME ON, CAR WOULD NOT ACCELERATE PULLING INTO TRAFFIC ON BUSY HIGHWAY, NARROWLY ESCAPED ACCIDENT WHEN GAUGES CAME BACK ON, IDIOT LIGHTS WENT OUT, AND ENGINE ACCELERATED NORMALLY. DID THIS AGAIN IN OUR DRIVEWAY TWICE THE NEXT WEEK. TOOK TO DEALER, MACK BROWN INC., IN BOONE, NC, NOT THE SELLING DEALER, CAR WAS UNDER WARRANTY AT THE TIME. THEY KEPT IT SEVERAL DAYS AND CALLED TO SAY IT WAS FIXED. WHEN WENT TO PICK UP VEHICLE, I ASKED WHAT THEY HAD REPLACED, AND THEY ADMITTED THEY HAD DONE NOTHING, AND SAID THE DIAGNOSIS COMPUTER SHOWED SO MANY POTENTIAL PROBLEMS THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO REPLACE FIRST. I TOLD THEM TO KEEP IT UNTIL IT WAS FIXED, THAT I WASN'T PUTTING MY KIDS IN IT UNTIL IT WAS FIXED, AND GOT IN MY OLDER AND HIGHER MILEAGE MERCEDES WHICH HAS NEVER HAD A SINGLE PROBLEM, AND LEFT. THEY KEPT IT A COUPLE MORE DAYS AND DECIDED TO REPLACE THE IGNITION SWITCH, WHICH THEY SAID HAD CAUSED SIMILAR SYMPTOMS IN MANY FULL SIZE GM PICKUPS THEY HAD SEEN, BUT THEY HAD NEVER SEEN A JIMMY WITH THE PROBLEM. THEY SAID THE IGNITION SWITCH IN BOTH MODELS WAS THE SAME PART, THOUGH. THE CAR HAS NEVER HAD THE PROBLEM SINCE. UNRELATED BRAKE PROBLEM, BRAKE PEDAL WOULD SUDDENLY BE HARD, AS IF WITH NO POWER ASSIST. BACK TO MACK BROWN, INC., WHO DIAGNOSED IT AS A CLOGGED PCV VALVE. PROBLEM HAS NOT RECURRED. ALSO, FOR A YEAR THE EMERGENCY BRAKE WILL NOT HOLD THE VEHICLE ON EVEN THE SLIGHTEST INCLINE, DESPITE MACK BROWN, INC. AND TWO INDEPENDENT GARAGES ADJUSTING IT ON THREE DIFFERENT OCCASIONS.*AK