Posted on 12/06/2004 1:52:08 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Federal regulators are investigating the Hummer H2 after receiving three reports of wheels falling off the vehicle, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday.
Involved in the investigation are Hummer H2s from the 2003 and 2004 model years. General Motors Corp. said there are approximately 59,670 of those on the road.
Four drivers reported a fracture in the steering knuckle, which allows the wheels to turn. All said they lost control, including one driver whose H2 veered into oncoming traffic and ended up in a ditch on the other side of the road. In three of the cases, a wheel fell off.
The Hummer H2, which starts at around $50,000, weighs 6,400 pounds and is one of the largest sport utility vehicles on the road.
GM said it is cooperating with the new investigation. NHTSA investigations can lead to vehicle recalls.
OOPS! It's a real hum-dinger!
Perhaps when RU 486 begins to cost the insurance industry money, something will be done. Seems like the fastest way to get legislation passed.
Besides, everyone knows SUVs eat children and club baby seals while simultaneously polluting the environment, selling children into slavery and beating minority women.
The car everyone loves to hate has a flaw. Look for the libmedia to make the Hummer look like the most unsafe car since the Corvair (which wasn't really that unsafe, after all).
Meanwhile, on average, 50 or more men, women and children are being killed by drunk drivers in the US every day, but, apparently that's not a safety issue.
As a public service, I am offering to take anyone's Hummer off their hands and drive it myself. Purely for safety purposes. You can Freepmail me for a delivery address.
Something here doesn't add up. The steering knuckle is a part of each spindle (right and left), to which the steering linkage attaches. If the knuckle breaks, the worst that should happen is that the wheel is no longer tied to the steering linkage.
The road surface may then cause that wheel to turn left or right, but the wheel is still bolted to the hub, which is attached to the spindle, which is still attached to the suspension at the upper and lower ball joints.
In order for these wheels to detach as reported, something else is breaking.
People are going to buy Baby Hummers.
Ask him if he has a funny vibration at highway speeds through the steering wheel--I can't imagine that sort of abuse wouldn't break a belt in one of the tires.
That is a LIE!!
I have never seen an SUV NEAR a baby seal...
Doesn't the steering knuckle have an opening to allow connection of the CV axle shaft to the wheel hub?
I guess time will tell. Hard to tell if your alignment is out when you tires don't have a directional pattern. Highway driving is more of a series of continuous small corrections that actually "feeling the road."
The annoying this is that he's the type of guy that'll end up rear-ending some family in a Honda this winter.
Will the audio system still work?
I wonder if it's actually a ball joint that's failing. That could cause the wheel (spindle) to detatch from the upper or lower A arm.
Mark
I'd have to get a look at the H2 suspension and steering, but I guess it's possible. When you factor in the AWD hardware, things do get more complicated.
On most knuckles the spindle is an integral part; if the fracture occurs at the machine line behind the bearing/seal area where the "T" is formed the spindle and wheel would fly off and outrun you down the road.
Depends on whether the driver rolls it over and snaps the antenna. CD changers might have trouble upside-down, too. :-)
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