Chevy Recalls Cruze After Steering Wheel Falls Off
 

Imagine turning your car’s steering wheel, or giving it a gentle tug, and having it break away from the steering column. Now you’re speeding along holding the suddenly useless wheel.

It sounds like a vision from a cartoon, or every driver’s nightmare. And it happened to at least one driver of a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze compact car last month, and General Motors Corp. is recalling 2,100 of the cars as a result.

While the recall affects a relatively small number of vehicles, it is an unpleasant development for Chevrolet, which has been riding high on the success of its new small car. Chevrolet sold 50,205 Cruzes through the end of March. That’s well short of the 76,821 units Toyota sold of the Cruze’s main rival, the Corolla, but it is ahead of the 37,379 Cobalts Chevy sold in the same period. The Cruze replaced the Cobalt and is supposed to be a departure from that uninspired model.

In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the car maker said it traced the problem with that particular car to a case in which the wrong wheel was put in a car and replaced later in the assembly process with the correct one. But the new wheel wasn’t attached properly, the car maker says.

When the wheel separated from the steering column, the driver was able to get the car to the side of the road safely, and the company says it has tested other cars from the production run and found no similar problems. General Motors says it believes this was an isolated incident.

Chevrolet says it has changed the production process to make sure the machine used to attach the steering wheel can accommodate only the correct one. The company is recalling cars that were built before it made the change.
http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/20...eel-falls-off/

Oops?



That actually happened to me once before many years ago. Luckily I was just pulling out of my driveway, but even so... scary to imagine that happening at anything higher one or two clicks/hour.

How does one not attach a steering wheel properly when it's supposed to be held on by both splines and a big nut?

I've driven a few times (short drives, swapping stock for aftermarket) with the wheel not secured in order to get the wheel straight and there's no way it would come off unless I pulled it straight back.

Unintended steering.:troll:

they dont just drive.. they cruze :troll:

http://www.egmcartech.com/wp-content..._volt_main.jpg

Somewhere in the ditch. :troll:

what do people expect when they buy a chevy? there a pos. I went to the autoshow couple weeks ago and as soon as i walked through the doors i saw this and i barfed.

http://www.cargurus.com/blog/wp-cont...00336914_m.jpg

Have you driven the Cruze? It's a good little car. At least it's better than the majority of its main competitors *coughCorollacough*

its nothing special really, i much rather have a elantra or a focus.

what's worse, steering wheel coming off or your brakes failing on you?

Losing steering is worse

zing!

Wow, recalled 4% of them.. big deal.

Toyota had to recall everything, didn't they?

Was even considering the Cruze awhile back ago but never liked the interior trim and overall looks.

But it was definitely a great car to drive around, suspension was decent and performance was fair if point A to B.

Toyota recall was bad in the beginning in the press but when issue was discovered, it wasnt that big of deal...

car of the year in india :troll:

actually thanks to toyota now every car company is taking this shit more seriously then every, my dad was gonna get one as it looked pretty good but after hearing a few things it set him off

This made me lol mainly cause of the retarded end pity seeker

go to 1:45

Guess what car the safety car is :troll:

each to their own, but i dont like the cruze at all.

also the commercial with that stupid song is annoying.

basically Cruze is the biggest POS just right after Cavalier
Watch the price drop on used models.

Take the wheel into your hands, literally.

i would love to see the resale value of this car now

166WHP / 210lb/ft from the 1.4 with minor mods.
I'd still buy one.
It's faster than 70% of your cars :lol

any car can be modded to go fast :speechless:

freaking awesome action. do you know where i could download the entire race?