NHTSA Closes Five-Year Probe Into 1.8M GM Trucks & SUVs With Brake Failure ... - The Consumerist
NHTSA’s investigation, which first began [ PDF ] in March 2010, covered nearly 1. 8 million full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles produced by GM’s GMT800 platform – including the 2002-3 Cadillac Escalade, the 1999-2006 Chevrolet... According to documents [ PDF ] posted by NHTSA, over the course of the five-year investigation regulators analyzed 3,645 consumer complaints of brake pipe corrosion failures, including 107 crashes and 40 injuries. NHTSA determined that while only 20% of all GMT800 vehicles were sold in the salt states – areas of the U. S. where road salt is used during the winter months – a disproportionate number of complaints came from those regions, leading investigators... In the salt states the failure rates begin to climb as the vehicles advance in age, particularly in the Northeast corner of the United States. The complaint rates in the salt states go from less than 0. 1 incident per thousand vehicles (IPTV) at 7 years in service to over 1. 0 IPTV after the 12th year of service for the subject pickup trucks and utility vehicles. Source: consumerist.com
