GM Is In Trouble!

Issue #212

Today, we’re exploring a critical issue with GM engines. Their recall and fix weren’t enough, but that’s not the worst problem: the engines can catastrophically fail. Here’s more.

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Market News

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• The new Mitsubishi Montero will be revealed soon, though it will arrive in the US until this year.

• These are the ten cheapest pickup trucks you can buy right now, and the average value is around $35,000.

Safety and Recalls

• 3.2 million vehicles have a “Park Outside” warning. Here are the affected models.

• More than 27,700 BMW vehicles could have a driveshaft detachment. Here’s more.

Car Culture

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• These long-forgotten roadsters are increasing in value.

• This halo-car could make Dodge a competitor again.

• In the 1930s, one company created a car with technology that would predict the future of automobiles. Here it is.

• Body-on-Frame SUVs are making a comeback, but what about cars? Here’s why they won’t.

Video Of The Week

My Old Car gives us part 1 of the last car to have many features of the past. Here’s the video.

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In The Know

GM Is In Hot Water

It’s one of GM’s most expensive SUVs in the lineup, and now, it’s under scrutiny from federal safety authorities. This isn’t a new problem. In fact, as we covered in this newsletter, it’s an ongoing problem from 2022 with the L87 engine.

In short, the engines inside the Cadillac Escalade are failing. The problem is that it’s not the only troubled vehicle in the lineup. So, what’s happening? Some media call it an implosion, while others call it a catastrophic failure. 

GM explained that the crankshaft and connecting rods were damaged in the manufacturing process, and that damage led to total engine failure. In short: it’s bad.

Ironically, the fact that your engine could implode isn’t the worst problem out of all of this. The problem is that GM had already fixed this, or tried to. The automaker’s solution was to inspect all recalled engines; if they passed, they’d replace the oil filter and oil cap and add higher-viscosity oil. 

If they didn’t, they would need a total replacement. Here’s more on how GM was trying to fix this issue.

The original number of engines possibly affected was around 600,000. However, the solution hasn’t worked. If anything, the problem has gotten worse. As this article explains, GM has actually had to increase the vehicles recalled to nearly a million.

The solution just wasn’t enough, as GM reported 7,000 complaints of engine failures. At the same time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received 499 complaints alleging post-remedy engine failure in recalled vehicles, as explained here. But that’s not the worst of it. Of those complaints, only 26 involved replaced engines. 473 engines allegedly failed after the automaker changed the oil, showing how ineffective the repair was.

Such a high number of complaints has led authorities to dig deeper. As you can read here, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has expanded the investigation. Now, authorities want to investigate engines produced after the recall, when the company supposedly solved the problem.

By the way, as this short explains, this isn’t the first time the NHTSA has investigated GM. If you check out this video, you might think it’s recent, but it’s exactly one year old. Now, the authority is going deeper.

Since the recall affects many years of the Silverado 1500, Tahoe, Suburban, Escalade, and Yukon, GM could be at the brink of a major critical moment. These are some of the best-selling vehicles, with the Silverado truck being the country’s second-favorite full-size truck and the Tahoe and Suburban dominating the full-size segment, as explained here.

This is a complex recall; there are no two ways about it. What’s more, it seems that GM doesn’t have an adequate solution. Nobody knows what will happen next, but GM might have to fork out a lot of money and put all its hope into the new generation of engines.

For now, if you have any of the possibly affected vehicles, reach out to your dealer asap.