Never could understand why the brake lines aren’t made out of stainless steel tubing. Tremendous hydraulic pressure builds up in these lines to operate the brake system. Doesn’t take much corrosion to compromise their integrity.
Gee, I thought women were sooooo much better at leading than men.
I change my brake fluid anually, spray the underside with anti-corrosion cleaners. I regularly crawl under my truck to change oil & inspect. I also live on the coast & haul max loads in the mountains.
Think I’ll go crawl under my truck right now.
Also, this is a truck that GM sold with failing Firestone tires.
It’s a 2004 car. What do you expect. About 6 years ago, my daughters 1999 Mercury Sable had the same failure. She was driving, lost brakes and put he car into a spin so she could hit the curb. She was only a block from home. I drove it real carefully to the mechanic. Brake lines rusted out.
I never called Ford, nor a lawyer. I got my checkbook and had the car repaired.
The cars in question are now ten years old. Maintenance is the responsibility of the owner, not the people who made it a decade ago.
Why would they want a broad for CEO? She should bring coffee to the board meetings and then leave.
We have one of these trucks.
I replaced the brake lines last year - all of them. Ginormous PITA, would have cost a fortune to have a mechanic do them.
I also relocated the ABS controller to an area less subject to corrosion. Found out later that GM relocated it on later model trucks to almost the exact same spot.
This was my first newish truck. Had no idea how stupid the design of the bedsides are - almost guaranteed to corrode over time. Ours went from beautiful to completely rusted through in less than a year. Of course, this isn’t just a GM problem.
The frame also rusted from the inside out in several places. Had to weld in several patches.
Worst was the rocker panels - completely eaten away as if by cancer from the inside out. I don’t know how I could have prevented this had I known it was a problem.
Now, I don’t expect vehicles to last forever, but for what GM wants (and wanted) for a new truck like we have (4x4, V8, automatic, extended cab) I expect it to be made of better materials and design. It’s not like the truck was worked hard - it’s basically a commuter vehicle.
Then there’s the failed heater control modules, the failed 4x4 modules, the multiple revisions of the steering intermediate shaft, the multiple revisions of the driveshaft yoke, ABS problems requiring replacing the front hubs, ABS problems requiring replacing the ABS module, heater cores that rust out and require the entire dashboard to be removed to replace, multiple emissions modules that fail, failing fuel level senders, gas tank straps that corrode away, door hinges that wear and cannot be replaced, multiple revisions of door latches, dash bulbs that are soldered and can’t be replaced when they burn out. And the multiple part revisions are nice - except when they all get released after the vehicle is out of warranty. I could go on, but I won’t.
IMHO, out of ignorance or on purpose, this vehicle was designed to self destruct. I mean, GM’s been making pickups for most of 100 years. Yet they don’t seem to have learned anything.
We also have an 87 Ranger with almost the exact same body rust issues. Except is has 13 more years on it before the same problems emerged.
In any event, there’s not much I can do. The truck is worthless as a trade, and GM has lost a customer forever. I’ll continue to keep it on the road as long as I can because I have to, but I won’t make the mistake again of paying GM for the privilege.
Just remember. All components go to the cheapest bidder. If the cheaper supplier uses inferior products that save $1, guess what. That being said. Either the engineer specified the wrong material (unlikely), the supplier gave the wrong material (likely but not deliberately), or the Chinese supplier of the tubing to the supplier gave the wrong tubing (most likely and deliberately).
This coming from an aircraft production engineer in a previous life.