In the case of the Citation, Chevrolet was not only trying to engineer a completely new type of American car, but they were also doing so in an incredibly brief time frame.
The result was a very poorly built compact whose interior would come apart and its transmission frequently failed.
But the most severe issue with the Citation had to do with its rear brakes, which were sometimes locking up and causing accidents. During this time GM refused to do a recall even as serious complaints were piling up.
Eventually, the U.S. Department of Justice sued GM in an effort to get the automaker to issue a recall. The effect all of this legal drama had on sales was predictably negative, with drivers not wanting to become a collision statistic.
You missed the power steering gear failures. I've lost track of the number of rack and pinions I've seen failed on the 'X' cars (GM internal code for the Citation and it's Buick, Pontiac, And Olds derivatives). The failure mode was particularly insidious in that the driver would lose power assist at random times, even in the middle of a turn. Imagine driving your car around a right hand turn with your usual hand pressure on the steering wheel when suddenly the power steering fails, and unless you have a gorilla grip on the wheel, it tries to straighten out, heading you into the oncoming lane! You may think my description overly dramatic but it's happened to me and the semi in the other lane can't be over-dramatized. I saw this same failure on many X cars (I'm retired from a career in auto repair) but mostly well beyond warranty and more prevalent in cold weather, which I assume is the reason there was never any government action. I don't think it affected anyone in the Southern parts of the US.
ReplyDeleteI've missed talking about everything I've never heard of, and never thought of. Thanks for taking the time to describe the X car steering problem... I hadn't heard of that!
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