Recall Alert: 275,000 Cadillac, Pontiac, Saturn Cars and Crossovers

Today, GM announced it would recall 275,936 vehicles in the U.S. due to a faulty seal. The recalled vehicles include:

• 2005-07 Cadillac CTS
• 2005-07 Cadillac STS
• 2005-07 Cadillac SRX
• 2006-07 Pontiac Solstice
• 2007 Saturn Sky

The company said it had received a “higher than normal” number of warranty claims for the faulty seal, which can leak fluid, leading to a loss of control. One crash has been reported, in which the rear wheels locked due to a leak. In another incident, a driver was injured when his vehicle lost control.

The seal will be replaced for free, and the recall will begin in February 2008. Owners can call Cadillac at 800-982-2339, Pontiac at 800-620-7668 and Saturn at 800-972-8876 for more information.

GM Announces Recall (BusinessWeek)

Comments

LALALA! lol..

OMG listen to this.....One crash has been reported, in which the rear wheels locked due to a leak. In another incident, a driver was injured when his vehicle lost control.

I paid close to $400 to have my Caddie dealer fix this very same leak on my '05 CTS. I got tired of arguing with them so I just paid to have it done. I think it should have been covered under warranty, but they say I'm 2,000 miles over. One thing is for sure, I will never buy a GM vehicle again. Two more payments and I'm dumping my car for a Lexus.

In that case can you get your money back? What're the rules for something like that?

Yes, he can get his money back on the repairs made to the "Caddy" only if they are the same as the recall. And if you're going to dumb a brand just because of one recall, you need a bike, because all automakers suffer from this, import or domestic.

Brown, u didn't understand Carl's point. He didn't dump the brand 'coz of the recall; he dumped it 'coz of the "attitude" and treatment he got from Caddy's (dealership). If Carl's an "import lover"to begin with, he wouldn't have bought his Caddy, would he? So don't try bashing the imports because of a domestic recall...

Touche import lovers. We have been having a blast with Toyota recalls this year. "Small driveshaft coupling issue with Tundra, no problem." The long spinning thing that provides drive to the wheels not working is a problem. Time for GM to feel some pain now.

I agree with Carl completely. GM should have fixed a seal that failed at I guess 38,000 miles. There is no excuse for that on a Cadillac and then say "Oh, you're 2,000 miles over warranty, you're going to pay to fix it." Obviously something was very wrong to begin with. Detroit just keeps digging their hole bigger and bigger. I haven't bought Detroit in years and I wouldn't mind having an 08 CTS, but after reading this, I guess not.

Amuro Ray,

Apparently you didn't comprehend what I was trying to say. My point that im trying to make is that he shouldn't dump an american brand just because of an "attitude" that he got, maybe he should have tried a different dealership...its not the particular automaker that gives an attitude, its the dealership. Now the reason why I brought up the fact to not discriminate against domestics and imports. Going to Lexus isn't going to solve his problem because we've all seen that ToMoCo is having recall issues too, and there is bound to be a hard headed dealership.

GM has been having axle problems since the 1971 Vega (the axle shaft would walk out of the housing while the car was turning corners).If this seal was made the wrong size,you'd think that GM quality control would have found that out before production started (ever hear of a vernier caliper to measure things?),or do they just trust their suppliers (Freudenberg-NOK? was it?)blindly and install away.As for Caddy quality,there are tons of Caddys in the junkyards rusting away.Worlds standard of quality? Its a GM....c-mon...

Brown,
It's ok to admit that Lexus gives much better dealer service than GM/Cadillac. I know this from first hand experience as a former three time owner of Cadillacs - I will never go back. Their dealer culture is not customer-centric like Lexus. GM's first position on warranty work is to figure out how to get out of performing it. Perhaps that's changed, but I doubt it as you can't teach dealerships new tricks. A pig with lipstick is still a pig.

Brown, not to start an argument with you, but as what Judge Judy would have said, " you are now covering your words with something new..."

1st you said, "And if you're going to dumb a brand just because of one recall"
Then you said,"My point that im trying to make is that he shouldn't dump an american brand just because of an 'attitude' ..."

- See how you changed the word from "recall" from the 1st post to "attitude" without using the word "recall" again in the 2nd post? I didn't put words in you mouth; you did your own, in fact, you are copying my point to you! Seems to me that I comprehend every word you said, but not vice versa.

Then again, you said, "...recall, you need a bike, because all automakers suffer from this, import or domestic."
And in your next post, "Going to Lexus isn't going to solve his problem because we've all seen that ToMoCo is having recall issues too, and there is bound to be a hard headed dealership."

- Logic dictates that this is indeed brand brashing (or imports bashing), as what you are trying to devalue - the imports - does NOT make the domestics or this recall sound any better! In fact, this is exactly what a 3 year old would have said, "but Timmy did that too!" Parents would usually reply by saying, "if Timmy jumped off a bridge, would you?" Besides, have you confirmed that Lexus will provide the type of treatment (lousy) to its clients too? Most research data seems to differ from your statment utterly!

Point is, the other person was bashing Cadillac NOT because it's an domestics, but because of the treatment he's received from Caddy. What you don't seem to get is the fact that this is just a recall! Pulling other import brands into it has no meaning to make this recall more or less significant, or make the other brands worse or better!

"Two more payments and I'm dumping my car for a Lexus."

That means, he's going to dumb a domestic for an import. End of story.

As a former owner of four Cadillacs I can assure anyone thinking about changing to the Lexus brand that you will not be disappointed. I have found my dealer's service to be excellent and my ES300 car to be 100% reliable. I don't miss the days of figuring out the lies from the truth as I often had to do with my Cadillacs. I don't miss them one bit.

The 2005 CTS had a 50,000 mile warranty, so "Carl" must have had at least 52,000 miles on his when he was told to pay for the repair himself. If the seal was leaking prior to the expiration of the warranty, and the leak concern was documented on a service record while still under warranty, it should have been fixed gratis given the close proximity to the end of the warranty.

However, if the car was taken in for the first time AFTER the 50,000 mile mark for the leak then there is no reason it should have been fixed for free. If the leak was severe enough, it should have been noticed during a previous service visit or annual inspection and repaired under warranty accordingly.

Now that the recall has been announced, "Carl" should be able to contact Cadillac customer care and get information on how to be reimbursed.

Frankly, $400 is pretty reasonable for such a repair at the 52,000 mile mark. Especially if that was the only major, expensive repair up to that point. As cars get old, things start to leak and fail and cost money to fix.

Heck, the 30,000 mile service on my '03 Dodge Durango 4x4 was $600 (front and rear diff. fluid changes, transmission flush and fill, front brake pad replacement, tire rotation). Dodge also calls for new spark plugs at 30K, but I elected to wait until 50K for that. The front ball joints were replaced under recall, as was the windshield wiper motor. Was it enough to deter me from ever buying a Chrysler product again? No. I would buy Chrysler again without reservation (if they ever make something that interests me).

My current '06 Impala had a power steering failure that was fixed under warranty. It was also recalled to have the ECM recalibrated for more optimal E85 use. I have no issues with GM and am anxioulsy awaiting the Pontiac G8.

All automakers have issues. GM/Ford/Chrysler/Honda/Toyota, etc. It doesn't matter. There is no perfect car. They are mechanical devices and are prone to fail at some point and require repair. It is inevitable. Buy what you like, fix it when it breaks, and press on.

The dealer in "Carl"'s case was simply following protocol. Most dealers are allowed some leeway in post warranty repairs, but not without convincing evidence when submitting the warranty claim to GM:
Previously documented problem and/or warranty repair attempt...OK.

Very troubleprone car...goodwill fix...OK.

Customer has purchased a new Cadillac every 3 years for the past 12 years at that dealership...OK.

Customer comes in at 52,000 miles and argues about a leaky seal being a warranty fix, it is their first and/or only Cadillac, they threaten to go elsewhere and buy a Lexus next time...no way will they go the extra mile and fix it for free...$400 please and good luck with your Lexus.

Only 52,000 miles leaks is enough to scare me away frmo a Caddy.

As a former Cadillac owner I'm not surprised to hear about leaks as my CTS literally fell apart at 60k starting with leaks galore. It's a shame too as I loved the way the car drove. I now have a 2006 Acura TL that I wouldn't trade for anything. It's the first car that I've ever owned where I didn't have to return to the dealer. 44,325 miles and going strong.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Albert,
I too am a previous CTS owner but my car was bullet-proof reliable. I traded it with 107,000 miles on her and nary a problem. I have heard other CTS owners complain about electrical problems and leaks, but as the other poster said, no car is perfect. My current car is a TL and I really like it, however I am on my second transmission so you just never know. I do like my Acura dealer as he gives exceptional service.

"However, if the car was taken in for the first time AFTER the 50,000 mile mark for the leak then there is no reason it should have been fixed for free. If the leak was severe enough, it should have been noticed during a previous service visit or annual inspection and repaired under warranty accordingly."

Seriously, we all know how dealers tries to get away from fixing a warranty covered problem. They can pretend they did not find any problem (even it is leaking all over the darn place) until either A) Warranty expired, or B) Customers noticed the problem themselves.

Carl - and I am never buying anything non-GM again. My 08 CTS is incredible (it's not affected by this) and is better in every way that anything from Lexus.

By the way, remember that Lexus had a recall on some of their cars (ES350) not too long ago as well. Toy as a whole has been having massive recalls these last few years (they still have recalled more cars in 2007 than GM has). I don't know, but Toy quality seems to be getting worse. I wouldn't trust them. If you MUST buy an import, I would get another BMW or Audi or if it has to be Japanese, get an Infiniti (Acuras are too faux-lux; basically Euro Hondas in drag for which I would never pay for).

J-

Most states have annual safety and/or emissions inspection requirements. A severe leak would have been noted during the inspection and the vehicle owner informed. Also, if Carl's leak was that bad he would have noticed it himself and taken it to be fixed. Leaks start gradually and leave evidence on the street/driveway/garage floor.

Contrary to popular belief, most service departments will readily fix problems under warranty if the problems qualify.

What amazes me are the people that think that ANYTHING that needs repair or replacement during the warranty period is covered. For example, I had an associate who needed new tires on their GM vehicle at 24K miles. They wanted the dealer to cover it because the dealer didn't automatically rotate the tires when they took the car in for routine maintenance. The dealer said to them "we don't do service you don't ask for...if you don't ask us to rotate the tires we don't do it." An argument ensued over this, with the consumer arguing that they rely on the dealer to handle all aspects of maintenance so that "they don't have to worry about what the vehicle needs". Needless to say, the dealer refused to pay for new tires. I don't blame them!

Incidentally, this same dealer replaced this same person's warped brake rotors under warranty a few weeks later. No fuss, no muss. This dealer knew that GM now covers rotors for the full factory warranty period and did not hesitate to honor that.

It's a 2-way street. Dealers cannot be expected to automatically find and fix all problems, but owners cannot totally wash their hands of any issues and assume they don't need to mention them to their dealer (only to complain later on down the road that the problem wasn't found and/or covered under warranty).

I have never had a dealer (of any Make) deny any warranty repairs and I have had some real doozies. Treat dealers with respect and they will respond accordingly. Treat them as adversaries and they will return the attitude right back.

Throughout my twenty-five plus years of ownership of many Detroit and Japanese cars I've had several Ford and GM dealers try to get out of doing warranty work. I've never experience a Japanese brand dealer avoid warranty, in fact twice from Honda I received free warranty service even though my car was out of warranty by several years and several thousand miles. In both cases my dealer said the failure of the part was "unacceptable". I truly believe Honda has the best dealer network and that Toyota is the worst, however I would put both of them before any Ford, GM, or Audi dealership. I remember reading somewhere on these posts where a poster said, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". I think that sums it up for Detroit dealerships, it's a work culture issue. The new CTS and Malibu are impressive, however I wouldn't buy either one as I want the complete package when I lay down tens of thousands of dollars.