http://www.detnews.com/2003/autosins...b08-309417.htm

Feds' inquiry targets Chevrolet Silverado

Defect investigation focuses on tailgate cables of truck

By Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The federal government launched a preliminary safety investigation which could lead to the recall of more than 2 million Chevy Silverado pickups.

The defect investigation, announced Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will look at the cables on the tailgates of 1999-2002 model years of the General Motors truck.

The Silverado is GM's best-selling vehicles. In 2002, GM sold 653,000 of the full-size pickups.

NHTSA has received 16 complaints about the tailgates, including five injuries. Customers told NHTSA that the tailgates can drop unexpectedly after one or both support cables snap. In two cases, consumers had been dropped to the ground while sitting on the tailgate. In two other cases, the tailgate collapsed while customers were loading the truck. One truck owner was injured by falling cargo.

 

 

I wonder how much weight you have to put on those cables to make them break like that?

Although, that is a fairly high occurance either way.

 

Gee.........That's too bad.

 

After making as many trucks as GM does you'd think they would have figured out how to make a cable.

 

Probably a supplier issue. There gets to be small cracks in the plastic/rubber covering the cable. This allows air/moisture in which corrodes the cable.

I doubt it is very widespread though, out of over 2 million trucks there have only been 16 complaints? That amounts to .00008%. My uncle has a 99 Silverado with over 150,000 miles and he has never had one fail. Thats pretty good considering he is a contractor and actually uses his truck for work.

I like Fords just about as much as you guys do, but ozcar2 do you ever post about anything other than GM bashing?

Bottom line: At least they arent investigating GM for problems like Daimler Chrysler is having with the Dakota/Durango. The upper ball joints fail at around 30,000 miles, often causing wheel/brake/axle assemblys to go flying off the vehicle.

 

It’s really only a problem for people that put a HUGE LOAD of weight on the tailgate, either from supplies or their own HUGE LOAD…


I can hear them thinking now:

Let’s go sue Chevy for this injury then we can go after McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s….

 

i had that happen on one of the '00 chevy half that we used as work trucks last summer. We had a few sacks of quickrete and a buddy sat down on the tailgate and it snapped. So we just went and got new cables.
Ive had between 600-700 pounds on my Ford tailgate before and nothing snapped. Its amazing how much lighter duty Chevy trucks are then Fords. Take a Chevy tailgate off and see how light it is. Now take your Ford tailgate off. Big difference.

 

My wife has commented on how cheap the tailgate on her Grandpa's GM feels compared tom my F150s.

I have bent a couple of Ford tailgates before from too much weight on them - mostly from loading cattle, but the large rocks/small boulders on them didn't help either - ann I've never seen a problem. Come to think of it, a guy I use to work w/ had a Chevy, and one of his cables was broken...

 

This is funny. The 89 Chev I had was equipped with metal bars, not straps. I bet they are sorry right now for moving from that set up.



And now for the punchline.... what makes these break?

Answer:

Have you seen the size of the asses on those Chev drivers? They sit on them to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner (with all the relations sitting on theirs too) and WHAM the thing breaks!

 

My buddy is a Chevy parts guy. He told me they sell tons of those straps. It is a complete BS set up. They make you buy the cable and the latch as an assembly. If I recall correctly, they are about $100 per side.

I changed a set for my neighbor. They were not too hard, but he got frustrated and had me finish the job. His truck was about 1.5 years old, and the straps broke as he and two buddies were sitting on it putting on their golf cleats (no one was hurt and it didn't dent the tailgate). Together they weigh about 550 lbs. I think the cables have to fit into a tight space. The repeated flexing fatigues the cables 'till they snap. Perhaps he'll get his money back.

 

On other boards I have heard guys have trouble with the dealers on this one. I think some parts guys have their head so far up their *** they cant figure it out. It is possible to get just the cable, they are about $15 each. They can also be bought at Pepboys etc for about $10 each.

 

Initally just the strap was available and is still listed in the GM part Cat. The number for the strap has been superseeded by the assembly part #. My buddy is a very good parts man. I'm sure he wasn't blowing smoke. The aftermarket straps seems like a good idea since the factory straps cost soo much and break soo easily.

 

Well now I'm confused. I called him at work today to get a set of straps for my brothers 99 GMC truck. He was able to just get the cable this time. I gave him $16 for both straps. He gets me some killer deals!