05GTO

CLEVELAND -- A major automaker is turning over records of a potential safety defect to the federal government, reported 5 On Your Side Investigator Ron Regan.

A 5 On Your Side investigation first reported the story three months ago, exposing a serious safety risk with the Pontiac GTO.


The investigation uncovered tires completely worn down to the steel belts. GTO's front struts have the potential to peel away the inside tire walls like a can opener, officials said.


Since 5 On Your Side's report, owners across the country in at least 13 states have filed complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.


Those complaints include the mother of a teenage boy who died when his GTO crashed.


Government investigators sent a letter to General Motors asking for all information relating to tires that may fail suddenly.

GM has now turned over thousands of documents, including:


Service histories
Warranty claims
Consumer complaints

For 40,000 GTOs manufactured between 2004 and 2006 from late February to today, owners continue to come forward.


Jason Sable is one of the first GTO owners to see the 5 On Your Side report. He remembered the day he nearly crashed after the struts carved into his tires.

"It scared me. If I had not caught that, it could have been that trip home that the tire could have blown out and put me into the sidewall," Sable said.


Dave Horst is another driver who also came forward as a result of the investigation.

"It was wearing toward where you would get the steel belts coming through in a short time," Horst said.

And Russ Motz is even having the struts on his GTO replaced entirely. He suspects three problems are contributing to the strut-tire failure. They include premature failure of suspension components, incorrect size tires and GM's lack of response to complaints.

After buying his GTO, he immediately knew something was wrong.

"I wasn't getting the normal vibration on the steering wheel," Russ said. "It was violently shaking in my hands. It's definitely a big safety issue. I mean, GM needs to step up and say, 'Yes, there's a problem' and come up with a fix for it."


Previous Stories:
February 20, 2007: Government Opens Investigation Into GTO Defect
February 20, 2007: Report Prompts Investigation Into Pontiac GTO

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Randy

 

dcarlock

Well,

It makes me rather sick that GM still has not come forward, I understand they are in the business to make money, and some dealerships are working to resolve the problem, however it is time for GM to come forward and acknowledge that they choked big time.

dcarlock

This link has a video, which is adds visualization that the article does not.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/13339904/detail.html

pick_a_part

Cleveland, Ohio

DAH GTO

The video doesn't work.

GTO1_OHIO

By the way I'm Russ Motz from this interview. About all we got was for them to add the info about premature failure of suspension parts and that GM put a larger tire on the car when it was shipped to the US. But basically everything that Jason, Dave and I said was reported totally out of context.

The violent wheel shake I was describing was not from strut rub it was because my tires needed to be forced balanced and the car aligned on the day I picked it up. Could the bad factory alignment have made the tire hit the strut...yes but my struts had only very very minor rub marks on them after 35K miles. The front struts were totally shot though and needed replacing.

That interview was shot the day I was having a full Pedders suspension installed. None of the cars that were there that day had any major strut rub. What some did have were collapsed strut bushings...which contributes to bad alignments. Dave is a GM tech and was describing another car he had seen...not his. And Jason was not even close to having an accident. ...Shock value reporting is what this came down to.

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ls2weber

Man if GM would just step and say we might have a problem it would be cool, I know I would take it in and let them check really we would of got upset for that. The longer they wait the more they put the shaft to themself. I personaly have had no problem with any parts but I now keep a close eye on it. I also liked the brakes on that GTO on the lift.

GTO1_OHIO

Thanks...the brakes were my first mod...but that was long long ago.

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dcarlock

Your computer is the problem, just checked the video.

DAH GTO

I don't get it then. I have high speed DSL, I usually can watch all video formats, just not this one. When I click on the video or the linked caption, absolutely nothing happens.