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1998 PONTIAC SUNFIRE — STEERING:RACK AND PINION

crash · 402516 · 2003-04-14

Vehicle

Make
PONTIAC
Model
SUNFIRE
Year
1998
Manufacturer
General Motors, LLC
Component
STEERING:RACK AND PINION
Miles at failure
51,000
Speed
1 mph

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
0
Fire
No
Crash
Yes
Police report
Yes
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

ON 9/5/02 MY CAR WAS INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT WHICH TOTALLY DESTROYED IT. ACCIDENT WAS CAUSED WHEN I WAS SLOWLY MAKING A LEFT TURN, SUDDENLY I EXPERIENCED LOSS OF POWER MAKING IT VERY HARD TO MANEUVER CAR DUE TO HIGH RESISTANCE. I WAS GOING SOUTH, AND WHEN I STARTED TO MAKE LEFT TURN, NORTH BOUND WAS FREE AND CLEAR, BUT BECAUSE THE LENGTH OF TIME I SPENT TRYING TO CONTROL MY VEHICLE, ANOTHER CAR GOING NORTH APPROACHED THE INTERSECTION WHERE I WAS AND COULD NOT AVOID HITTING THE OTHER CAR CAUSING THE CRASH. I SPENT MY ENTIRE SAVINGS TO PURCHASE THIS CAR FROM A PONTIAC DEALER, AND THIS ACCIDENT THAT LEFT ME WITHOUT TRANSPORTATION, CAUSED THE LOST OF MY JOB AND MANY OTHER HARDSHIPS. THEN ON JANUARY 2003, PONTIAC DECIDES TO SEND ME A RECALL LETTER, WHICH WAS TOO LATE FOR ME. MY QUESTION IS WHAT TOOK PONTIAC SUCH A LONG TIME TO ISSUE THE RECALL NOTICE? IF THEY HAD DONE IT EARLIER, I WOULD HAVE NEVER PURCHASE THIS USED VEHICLE IN 2002. FOUR YEARS IS A LONG TIME AND I AM SURE THERE MUST HAVE BEEN NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS, HOPE THEY WERE AS LUCKY AS ME WHO IS ALIVE TO TELL THE STORY. NOW FOR MY RIGHTS..... WHAT ARE THEY IN THIS SITUATION? AS I SAID BEFORE, THIS "MINOR MISTAKE OF GM" LEFT ME WITHOUT CAR, WITHOUT SAVINGS AND WITHOUT A JOB. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT GM SHOULD COMPENSATE ME WITH AN EQUAL CAR OR THE EQUIVALENT FOR ME TO PURCHASE ANOTHER CAR, IT IS ONLY FAIR. IF THE PROBLEM WAS MADE PUBLIC IN 1999 OR 2000 I WOULD NOT BE IN THIS PREDICAMENT. PLEASE PRESENT MY COMPLAINT TO THE MAN

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
10014345
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown