2009 Deathmobile

[omahavibe]

Well, the fun continues with my less than 3000 mile 2009 Vibe -- on Friday, I'm cruising down the road and the freaking back passenger wheel starts making an ungodly sound and I think I have the flat from hell. I pull off the road, only to see the top part of the wheel pushed in, while the bottom is out. Husband thought I broke a spindle, turns out some monkey at the factory FORGOT to tighten a bolt. Five minutes before I was doing 75 down the highway. This thing would have flipped big time and I'm not sure I'd be around to write this. Wouldn't ya think someone would check this stuff out? Not sure this car is long for my driveway.......

[joatmon]

I'd be furious. Take it back and insist the dealership have someone go over every thing imaginable to make sure nothing else is loose.

[Kamikaze]

Wow... I would make the dealership at least go over everything on the car.I broke the lower bolt on my right rear suspension on my civic. I was going around a 15 MPH corner at about 40 and all of a sudden WHAM, car make some weird noises and doesn't handle as good, scraped up the inside of the rim. I had to buy a new control arm and bolt, the car wasn't going to flip or anything...I guess it could have...

[NSimkins]

This sounds familiar. There was a recall for a loose bolt(s) in the rear-end back in the early 2003 models...Quote, originally posted by http://www.wane.com/Global/sto...d8Erz »2003 Pontiac Vibe(WANE, April 3, 2002) General Motors Has Recalled the 2003 Pontiac Vibe because of potential loose bolts in the rear axle and brake.Potential Number of Units Affected: 2701Manufactured: 01/2002 - 02/2002Defect Summary:VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: TWO-WHEEL DRIVE (2WD) PASSENGER VEHICLES. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE BOLT(S) TO BE LOOSE THAT JOIN THE REAR BRAKE AND HUB ASSEMBLY TO THE REAR AXLE CARRIER DUE TO INSUFFICIENT TIGHTENING DURING THE ASSEMBLY PROCESS.Consequence Summary:IF THE VEHICLE IS CONTINUOUSLY OPERATED IN THIS CONDITION, ONE OR MORE OF THE FOUR BOLTS COULD COME LOOSE, CAUSING AN ABNORMAL NOISE FROM THE REAR AXLE AREA. IN THE EVENT THAT ALL FOUR BOLTS LOOSEN COMPLETELY, SEPARATION OF THE REAR BRAKE AND HUB ASSEMBLY FROM THE REAR AXLE CARRIER COULD OCCUR, WHICH, IN THE WORST CASE, COULD LEAD TO A LOSS OF VEHICLE CONTROL.Corrective Summary:DEALERS WILL PROPERLY TIGHTEN THE BOLTS. OWNER NOTIFICATION BEGAN MARCH 12, 2002. OWNERS WHO TAKE THEIR VEHICLES TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER ON AN AGREED UPON SERVICE DATE AND DO NOT RECEIVE THE FREE REMEDY WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME SHOULD CONTACT PONTIAC AT 1-800-762-2737. Were you able to find out which bolt(s) was loose? That would really be helpful if possible.

[jimincalif]

You should file a report on this with NHTSA, there could be others. http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

[omahavibe]

Got what we now refer to as the "Deathstar" back yesterday afternoon. Something called the "knuckle bolt" was replaced and tightened, the car was aligned, and all of the other bolts were checked to make sure they were tight. Drove it to work today and nothing fell off, so it's a good day in my book....

[ToolGuy]

Well the whole rear axle probably comes as an assembly from the supplier and not put together bolt by bolt from GM. GM just installs it so the supplier was the monkey here! You were the lucky one that happend to get that axle too!

[redlava]

Holy Cow! That would be very scary.Greetings from Omaha.

[bull77]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »I'd be furious. Take it back and insist the dealership have someone go over every thing imaginable to make sure nothing else is loose.+1 give them hell

[Sublimewind]

This is a perfect example of why I wouldn't buy a new model... They are still working out all the QC things at the factory...

[Toasted7]

Quote, originally posted by bull77 »+1 give them hell+1 for sure... I would be furious!

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by omahavibe » Something called the "knuckle bolt" was replaced and tightened, the car was aligned,It would be good to know exactly which bolt this was, so that other new 09 owners could check, to make sure that it is not a re-occurence of the issue that prompted the recall in early 02.omahavibe, what kind of 09 do you have (base/awd/gt)? the vibe specs say "The base model has a torsion-beam rear suspension that is revised for a more comfortable ride, while the AWD and GT models use a multi-link independent rear suspension for even sharper responses and enhanced driving control" so it could matter which kind you have

[scherry2]

bummer. I would make sure the satisfaction survey included that item.I apologize for the worker who screwed up.

[tribalman]

was it just the wheel that was off, or more? i've had a friend have this happen after they took their car in for a tire rotation. "forgot" or didn't tighten them up well enough. glad to hear nothing bad happened. i also hope that you have no ill effects from this. the saying goes; "Murphy was an optimist".

[omahavibe]

To those who asked, I have a 2009 GT, and yes, before I drove it off the lot, I'd ask to have them go over every bolt

[engineertwin2]

Also, for the record, Aluminum wheels often require that the lugs be retorqued after 50 or so miles. While this may not have been what lead to the issue, it may very well have contributed.

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by omahavibe »I'd ask to have them go over every boltUnfortunately dealers do not get paid to do this so I doubt it would happen. What I would do if you have not already is call the Pontiac Customer Assistance center and calmly tell them what happened. Tell them this is not the first impression you wanted to have with your brand new vehicle. I would hope that with this being a new launch vehicle for Pontiac that they would do something for you like free oil changes and tire rotations per your dealer or free extended warranty or something...

[omahavibe]

engineertwin2, that's got to be a typo -- retorque the lugs after 50 miles???My husband and I have owned well over 50 cars in the last 20 years (we trade...alot) and I have never heard of such a thing. Nor has any dealer ever said, btw, go home and then drive back so we can torque the lugs....This car had less than 3000 miles on it and the back wheel fell off. That is a manufacturer problem, not an owner maintenance issue!!!

[engineertwin2]

Quote, originally posted by omahavibe »engineertwin2, that's got to be a typo -- retorque the lugs after 50 miles???My husband and I have owned well over 50 cars in the last 20 years (we trade...alot) and I have never heard of such a thing. Nor has any dealer ever said, btw, go home and then drive back so we can torque the lugs....This car had less than 3000 miles on it and the back wheel fell off. That is a manufacturer problem, not an owner maintenance issue!!!It's no typo. Most people don't do it and there are several conditions that may contribute to it, but mostly temperature dependent. Thermal creep can happen quite frequently and is why I suggested it may be a problem. Have your 50+ other cars ALL had larger diameter aluminum wheels?I did not mean to imply this was 100% the problem, but it does happen, and it is more common in cars with lower torque capacities. Dealers don't know wheels like wheel and tire guys do. All I'm saying is that I've seen a couple SAE papers indicating just this problem and HAVE heard of it. I thought I'd double check on my own wheels and I did see some slipping after an initial trip of 35 miles after a tire rotation.When you get gas, what do you check? Most people barely check tire pressure once a month, let alone every fill-up or two. We should also be checking fluids every fill up and performing a visual inspection on the wheels/tires. I wouldn't dream of suggesting that a visual would've caught this, but there are a ton of manufacturer/quality of build issues that can be caught on visuals. Again, I'm not suggesting you were wrong, but just trying to point out all possibilities. You should also ensure that ALL of the lug nuts were replaced on that wheel. I'd also be pretty serious about asking them to install new lug studs as they could be tweaked.

[omahavibe]

Yes, several of our cars have had large diameter aluminum wheels, and again, we've never had an issue. This wasn't a lug nut problem to begin with -- the lug nuts remained intact and in place. We've owned performance cars, we've owned luxurymobiles, trucks, SUVs and even the occasional "get around town" gas sippers, and I have never, ever, had a frigging wheel fall off a car, let alone a brand new one. My husband is religious about checking our cars, we service them regularly at the same reputable dealership, and many of them have had the On-star diagnostic monthly reports. Pontiac needs to figure out how to keep the damn wheels attached, and frankly, a lug retorque after 35-50 miles sounds excessive and unreasonable for the average American driver.

[DarkVibe]

Quote, originally posted by omahavibe »On-star diagnostic monthly reports.too bad the new vibes can't do this.Quote, originally posted by omahavibe »and frankly, a lug retorque after 35-50 miles sounds excessive and unreasonable for the average American driver.think about it this way, when you buy a new pair of shoes, don't you have to re-lace them because when you're starting to break them in, things compress, shift, and conform to your foot?i'm sorry that you found a car with a problem, but if you've owned as many cars as you say, if this is the first or even second car with a problem, count yourself lucky, at least your car didn't explode, because that has happen to other new cars.

[Sublimewind]

This is not a lug nut issue, BUT, I torque and RE-Torque all of my Aluminum wheels lugs.. Most people don't even BOTHER with using the proper torque, they throw the impact on the lugs and go to town... Not good... Un-even torque on the lugs can cause warped rotors, stretched lug studs (ask me how I KNOW about that one) and lost lugs.. wobbles issues (espically AFTER losing a lug or 2, and yeah, I know about that as well)Most impact guns do about 200ft/lbs in forward as a genearal rule of thumb... factory torque spec is 80... on my Subie 75... lol..

[Kamikaze]

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »Un-even torque on the lugs can cause warped rotors, stretched lug studs (ask me how I KNOW about that one) and lost lugs.. wobbles issues (espically AFTER losing a lug or 2, and yeah, I know about that as well)Most impact guns do about 200ft/lbs in forward as a genearal rule of thumb... factory torque spec is 80... on my Subie 75... lol.. Yep almost all Toyota's are 80ft/lbs... most Aluminum wheels won't exceed 100 ft/lbs... Whenever I do tires at my work, and they are aftermarket aluminum wheels I tell them to drive it a day or two (no more than 500 miles) and then come back so that we can re-torque the lugs to make sure they are still at the recommended ft/lbs... any decent tire shop should know this, I'm a little suprised a dealer wouldn't know this, as I'm sure this isn't their first set of "premium" wheels...and over torque is a big NO NO, might not seem like a big deal right away, but over time it will affect the wheel studs.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by ToolGuy »Unfortunately dealers do not get paid to do this so I doubt it would happen. What I would do if you have not already is call the Pontiac Customer Assistance center and calmly tell them what happened. Tell them this is not the first impression you wanted to have with your brand new vehicle. I would hope that with this being a new launch vehicle for Pontiac that they would do something for you like free oil changes and tire rotations per your dealer or free extended warranty or something... I thought that dealers did get paid for "dealer preparation".Or at least that would be part of their obligation under their franchise agreement.

[jerryn]

Wow! I put 100 miles/day on my 09 GT.Here is what I do. Perform your own vehicle checks. Assume everyone is an idiot.