Topic: Campaign to Initiate NHTSA Investigation into Kappa Passenger Presence Sensor

[sLAsh]

Maybe they will make the airbag always on and give us a decal to stick over the airbag light that says no kids

[SHEZOOMM]

received mine Tues. 28th.

Canadian Press says that there are only 7,143 on the list in Canada.

[Napi]

Hey Guys,
Are the new mats actually available?
The sensor in my Opel is broken AGAIN(3rd time now..
 And tbh the seat is barely used for anything, not even a bag), but Opel told me the recall does not apply for the GT and they could only offer a "normal" replacement sensor plus mat.

[TomatoSoup]

Hey Guys,
Are the new mats actually available?
The sensor in my Opel is broken AGAIN(3rd time now..
 And tbh the seat is barely used for anything, not even a bag), but Opel told me the recall does not apply for the GT and they could only offer a "normal" replacement sensor plus mat.

Ugh.  No we have had no word that there is an upgraded replacement available yet (if ever).

[Sol Asylum]

Yeah, what is the time line they are supposed to have a fix for this?

[Napi]

Damn. Guess I have to buy the standard replacement AGAIN. 

I hope you'll get the "New stuff" soon.

[ChrisPrice]

Damn. Guess I have to buy the standard replacement AGAIN. 

I hope you'll get the "New stuff" soon.

Definitely keep your invoices on that. I can't see GM getting out of reimbursing you.

I suspect GM will contact EU regulators and initiate a recall once the NHTSA solution has been approved. At which point, they will probably reimburse drivers in the EU for past replacements, which is their standard protocol.

I'm a bit surprised they haven't done that already, since GM is supposed to alert regulators when a known defect exists.

Over here, I thought I was bit by this finally. But it turns out the clockspring in my steering wheel broke. So the service airbag was the driver's airbag(!).

Dealer thinks my clockspring broke late last year when I had to force-steer after the ECU died, and the car spun out. I was probably pressing 300 pounds of force on the steering wheel, and today's GM steering wheels are not designed for an engine-off spinout. My CNA extended warranty covered it, and the one week (pony car) rental. I did get a free inspection of the ignition switch, which looks fine apparently.

[Napi]

Oh damn.
I had to force steer mine too...
The alternator died, two months ago.

The "Service Airbag" warning showed up two weeks ago and did not return so far... How do you know whether the clockspring or sensor mat is broken? Does the small indicator light for the passenger seat still work when the clockspring is causing the warning?

[Sly Bob]

Odds are that it's your mat in the passenger seat Napi. A broken clock spring is an extremely rare occurrence but every situation is different of course.

[TomatoSoup]

The "Service Airbag" warning showed up two weeks ago and did not return so far... How do you know whether the clockspring or sensor mat is broken? Does the small indicator light for the passenger seat still work when the clockspring is causing the warning?

If the ON/OFF passenger airbag lights are working properly (when you do/do not have a passenger in the seat), then yes, your mat is OK.

[ChrisPrice]

Unfortunate update for Opel GT brothers in Germany. Seems PSA and GM are locking horns over this, due to the PSA acquisition of Opel.

Opel GT owners are posting that Opel dealerships won't replace the broken part with the old stock of pre-recall parts for free. They're being asked to pony up $1,000+ for the part, in order to pass mandatory inspections in Germany.

It appears PSA has not worked out a deal with GM to cover costs, so owners are taking it on the teeth. PSA doesn't seem to have initiated the recall, and GM didn't do it before the split either.

Worse, I actually reached out to the GM press office. The answer I got was not comforting. They basically pinned it on PSA and said owners had to work with them, since they're no longer GM's customer.

I'd be furious if I was in Germany, and I made my opinion quite clear to GM management. This is not the right way to handle it.

[DaveOC]

Sorry to hear that!

Since the recall was initiated before the closing of the GM/PSA deal, one would have to assume that that GM might be responsible.  My guess is that PSA might be at fault for not doing their due diligence on this but the Opel GT is a relatively small drop in the bucket.  Let's call it 7500 cars times $1000 us dollars, $7.5 million dollars.

It'll likely get resolved quickly if it's a large enough amount to interest the class action legal beagles.



.

[Kelu]

I know is easy to blame the close one, GM in this case, I like GM and being an Opel GT owner (sorry not from Germany ) I can bet is also Opel's fault because they didn't protect their clients, anyhow GT was something exotic for Opel.

I was never called about the ignition recall, when I emailed Opel Romania (as importer entity, not any dealership) about this (more than 1 year after was in place) they told me that they don't have any data about my car, I told them that I'm registered as client in their system and I did first maintenance with this car/vin in their top 3 dealership in the country, plus there are records in national car registry, they said they don't communicate this data with their dealerships. Speechless in my opinion.

All we can do now, is to help Opel fellows by sharing the info to buy the part from a regular parts supplier, install it themselves and then just to go to Opel dealership to reset the BCM, this is exactly what I did and it cost me like 100 Euros the part and 20-40 Euros the reset of BCM.

[TomatoSoup]

All we can do now, is to help Opel fellows by sharing the info to buy the part from a regular parts supplier, install it themselves and then just to go to Opel dealership to reset the BCM, this is exactly what I did and it cost me like 100 Euros the part and 20-40 Euros the reset of BCM.

^This.  I know a lot of folks over here who had the issue before the recall announcement, were finding it was far cheaper to buy the part in Germany and ship it (back) here, than it was to buy the part here.  That $1000 figure seems extreme.

[DaveOC]

On the "other" forum there was mention of a change at both the GM and the NHTSA sites with respect to our PPS sensor:

I checked both the GM and the NHTSA recall sites and saw this language regarding reinforcement tape.

Repair Description:  Dealers will inspect the PPS sensor mat for damage. If the mat is undamaged and functioning correctly, dealers will add a reinforcement strip to the sensor mat free of charge. If the mat is damaged, dealers will install a new PPS mat with the reinforcement strip free of charge.

But the recall status has not changed on either site: 

Recall Status: INCOMPLETE. REMEDY NOT YET AVAILABLE

I checked with two reputable GM Service Centers that both have a good size Solstice/Sky customer base, and they were unaware of any changes.

Let's let this one age a bit before heading off half-cocked and/or half-loaded.

Note to self:  follow up in a couple of weeks.

 

.

[2kwk4u]

On the "other" forum there was mention of a change at both the GM and the NHTSA sites with respect to our PPS sensor:

I checked both the GM and the NHTSA recall sites and saw this language regarding reinforcement tape.

Repair Description:  Dealers will inspect the PPS sensor mat for damage. If the mat is undamaged and functioning correctly, dealers will add a reinforcement strip to the sensor mat free of charge. If the mat is damaged, dealers will install a new PPS mat with the reinforcement strip free of charge.

But the recall status has not changed on either site: 

Recall Status: INCOMPLETE. REMEDY NOT YET AVAILABLE

I checked with two reputable GM Service Centers that both have a good size Solstice/Sky customer base, and they were unaware of any changes.

Let's let this one age a bit before heading off half-cocked and/or half-loaded.

Note to self:  follow up in a couple of weeks.

 

.

hmm...  this just encourages one to do jumping jacks on the passenger seat before bringing the car in for the recall

[Sly Bob]

hmm...  this just encourages one to do jumping jacks on the passenger seat before bringing the car in for the recall

Yep...

[Sol Asylum]

I got a better idea, anyone got a broken one they have already taken out?   Reinstall it save the good one as a spare.

[2kwk4u]

Quite frankly, their "solution" sounds EXACTLY like a band-aid. 

It's as if they had a meeting that went something like:

Engineer 1:  We need to use a more robust sensor mat from the parts bin and re-flash the necessary modules with updated code.

Accountant 1:  OR, since Pontiac and Saturn are both dead, Fk them Kappa owners.  Hand me some duct tape.

GM Europe rep:  What about ze Opel?

All laugh