# Angry letter to GM



## DrFix2Fly (Oct 27, 2004)

I sent this to GM on behalf of all of us who feel screwed.

Robert Lange
Executive Director of
Vehicle Safety
General Motors Corporation
P.O Box 33170
Detroit MI 48232-5170

Dear Mr. Lange:

I am pleased to know that I am finally wise enough to call my purchase of a 2004 GTO my last GM purchase.

This letter was directed to you personally because of your title and your understanding of safety issues. In 1999 I made the unfortunate purchase of a Pontiac Firebird. Among many other smaller problems, this vehicle came to me with an engineering defect that caused my transmission valve body and torque converter to fail shortly after warranty. GM refuses to acknowledge it’s mistake which causes the torque converter control valve to leak which causes hard shifting (code P1870) which led to a cracked torque converter drive lug. GM refused to acknowledge the mistake it made on transmissions built before 1999, after which the problem corrected. Mine was one of the last made without the correction to the apply valve. Transmission shops tell me this is common and lots of research confirms it, but still I was out $1,500 by the time it was over.

What put me over the edge this time is that I was stupid enough to buy another GM product. GM refuses to acknowledge multiple suspension issues with the high-performance GTO, namely NHSTA investigation PE07-010 “strut-to-tire rub.” I fail to understand that after multiple accidents, why won’t GM admit it made a mistake by putting tires on the car that were too wide? Why does GM put it’s customers in jeopardy in these vehicles? How am I supposed to have any faith in your products? What am I supposed to do with four very expensive and useless wheels in my garage? 

My concern is not that GM made a mistake, but rather that it won’t admit it even though there is a safety concern. Every car maker makes mistakes, but this one can kill people, and it already has. Instead of notifying loyal customers foolish to buy your products, GM hands the problem off to its attorney pool and the NHSTA. GM will not do the right thing unless someone forces it to. I guess you calculate the cost of lawsuits vs. the cost to do the right thing. Four wheel spacers added to the car would prevent the problem. The cost would be cheap and your reputation would be saved. Unfortunately the GM approach is to deny, deny, deny. This forces me to tell anyone I know never to by another GM product ever again. I tell them the same short stories above. So far I have convinced at least two dozen loyal GM buyers not to buy again. You may wonder why Toyota and Honda are beating you up in sales and this kind of customer care is exactly why.

I don’t really expect a personal response to this problem so please spare me the gratuitous automated insincere form letter expressing your apologies for my dissatisfaction with your product and the problems I have had. I would really feel much more gratified if you took this letter, rolled it up in a tight little ball and shoved it up your ass where it belongs. If you have half a pair, you will call me personally and we can discuss this issue. My number is 336-xxx-xxxx.

Former customer,





Darin Alfano


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## JerseyGoat (Dec 2, 2005)

Nice letter. The strut rub issue is a major concern that gm should take seriously


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

*I would be interested to know if you got any response even though I'd bet you don't.

You may want to edit your phone number and last name on this message board for privacy reasons but it's your call..... just my 2 cents. *


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## IPOCKALYPSE (Mar 7, 2005)

I don't disagree with your viewpoint but, telling him to shove it the way you did probably won't help your case (great letter to that point). Would still be interested in hearing the updates to this situation.

BTW, my father has been a mechanic all of my life and a devoted GM loyalist and even he is talking about not buying another GM for the same reasons as you mentioned above.


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## CPO's GTO (Jul 1, 2006)

GTO judge said:


> *
> You may want to edit your phone number and last name on this message board for privacy reasons but it's your call..... just my 2 cents. *


Nice letter, be nice to see if they reply in a coherent manner. By the way,
I added your phone number to my contacts so I can call and bug the pi$$ out of you...Just kidding! :rofl: :cheers


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## Taxman (Dec 24, 2005)

I aggree with most of it, my angry letter writing sucks though


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## dcarlock (Jan 28, 2007)

*Wtf????*

You were doing so good in emphasizing yourself, until the end. You blew it.


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## PEARL JAM (Sep 6, 2005)

dcarlock said:


> You were doing so good in emphasizing yourself, until the end. You blew it.


:agree Until that last comment, it was a well written letter. Unfortunatly because of the ending comment, you will probably get your wish of " rolled it up in a tight little ball " followed by him tossing it in the trash without any further thought.


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## dcarlock (Jan 28, 2007)

PEARL JAM said:


> :agree Until that last comment, it was a well written letter. Unfortunatly because of the ending comment, you will probably get your wish of " rolled it up in a tight little ball " followed by him tossing it in the trash without any further thought.


That letter would have made someone think if only for a second or two, until the last thing it went personal. You cannot go personal at this phase. You might as well not even bothered with writing it at all at this point. You totally flopped.

Unfortunately GM is having the upperhand on the strut rub issue IMO. However letters like this will never give us the upper hand. As much as the strut rub cheeses my toes, I have to say on the overall I take a likin' to my GTO. GM brought me a muscle car without the look of a corvette, stang, firechicken, or ricer, with all the performance. It is a rare and unique car, and I am truly grateful for it. People who do not have patience with GM should not buy any more GM...Simple as that...Playing battleships with letters will not resolve this issue, or help me in any way. With that said, I have taken your letter personally and have to say it is people like you who have made this issue even more difficult than it already has been. Thanks for nothing.


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## PEKO (Nov 30, 2006)

GM, Toyota, Honda, Ford whatever. They are all the same. All the parts are built in other countries I cant pronounce. Gm cars arent American cars. Maybe final assmebly is here(for most) but parts arent. So there is no such thing as an American car.


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## DrFix2Fly (Oct 27, 2004)

If anyone thinks my letter was too harsh, just ask anyone who has had a blowout and crashed because GM won't fess up to their mistake. All I got was two handfulls of rusty steel belts in my fingers when I went to do my tire rotation. 

The issue is safety and responsibility and in this case GM doesn't seem to take either seriously. 

I've tried to do the right thing like going to my dealer who seems to know nothing. I called Pontiac's complaint hotline and after pushing 1 for someone to speak English, I connected to someone on the other side of the planet who didn't understand or care about "our" problem. I left information and no one ever wrote or called.

My personal experience is that "nice" letters don't work and angry ones do. I am fed up with generic form letters. Asking the Director or Vehicle Safety to take a paper enema was mild compared to the original draft suggestion. I challenged this well-paid executive to pay attention to "us." "we" paid a lot of money for these cars and "we" deserve better. As an aircraft mechanic I understand how important safety is. If I make a mistake, people can die. I take my work seriously and expect nothing less from GM. I will post the results as they happen. In the mean time, please inspect your front suspension regularly.


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

DrFix2Fly said:


> I would really feel much more gratified if you took this letter, rolled it up in a tight little ball and shoved it up your ass where it belongs. If you have half a pair, you will call me personally and we can discuss this issue.


I understand you have alot of built up anger but this part of the letter was over the top. Now on the flip side what if I wrote a letter to you and said the same thing, how would you react and how would you feel. Personally if you did that to me I would resist, not help you and will not give a crap. You probably don't car about the coments but it was just my feelings about that part of your letter. Also just like someone said above most cars are built the same, Toyota and Nissan had their share of recalls maybe more than GM, Ford and DCX this year and last. 

Good Luck.


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## 6QTS11OZ (Mar 27, 2005)

If I was Mr. Lange I wouldn't wad that letter up and shove it up my butt but I would delete it or wipe my butt with it and flush it down the toilet. Regardless of how pissed off you are about any situation with GM cars you have to remember that kindness begets kindness when you want a problem taken care of. When you voice your opinion in a negative fashion you will get a negative response if any at all no matter how right you think you are.


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## PEKO (Nov 30, 2006)

We have a guy here now at the dealership i work at. Came in with a tire with blisters all over it. GM Rep was here, and I called a tire place and described to him what the tire looked like inside and out. Customer thinks the tire has a defect but what he did was run the tire low. The tire guy didnt even have to see it. Knew right away what happened. So now well see if he wants to spend $242 on a tire. No defects to the tire, rubbing, wear, anything. so well see what happens.


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## b_a_betterperson (Feb 16, 2005)

The letter was OK until the end. Fortunately, I don't have the strut rub issue. 

That said, I don't think think I'd just wait around and cry victim. I'd have the alignment checked, etc. until it was fixed -- and then I'd go after GM and/or the dealer in small claims court to recover the expenses.


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## noz34me (Dec 15, 2005)

I sympathize with your frustration. I've had very similar experiences with Ford as well as GM. Poor quality, usually right after warranty, and no one standing behind the product.

I swore years ago I would never buy another GM. Then along came the GTO, and the fact it was built in Australia, I said "OK, one more time". Although I haven't had big issues with my car, I suspect it's because I rarely drive it. 9K miles on an 05. 

I bought the extended 7 year bumper to bumper warranty, just in case. One thing I know for sure is these cars will be expensive to work on.


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## DrFix2Fly (Oct 27, 2004)

I think some people are missing the point. Above all else, this is a safety problem! Many accidents have happened due to this. I was simply lucky enough to find the defect shortly before I would have had a blow out. 

The first thing I did when I discovered the problem at 20K was approach my local dealer dealer, in a friendly manner I might ad. They did what they could and even visited this website with me to show this is a common problem. The pictures in this forum are identical to what my tires looked like. I brought my car in with aftermarket wheels and we set the alignment. One front wheel was in limits and had minor rub, the other was slightly out by .3 degrees, and was rubbed raw. My own experience confirms this problem exists, especially with 17s. I t ried the complaint hotline, but it's a joke.

I am not arguing foreign vs. domestic either. I wanted to buy an American car and was willing to give Pontiac a second chance after my first miserable experience. I was disappointed that the same thing happened again, this time more expensive than the first. All I really want is for GM to be responsible to it's customers.

Lastly, I don't regret getting nasty toward the GM executive. He is paid very well and I trusted my money and safety to him. He disappointed me. All manufactures make mistakes, but the unwillingness to admit it and fix the problem and take care of it's customers is why I can't trust GM. They would rather let the NHSTA take care of it instead of being pro-active and doing the right thing. How about issuing a service bulletin to it's customers to simply have their tires checked before the accidents? 

I've written nice letters to complain and I've written nasty ones. Nasty ones get responded to far more often. As said before, I will post the results of my inquiry when it happens. Meantime, check your front end and submit a complaint to the NHSTA if you have had this problem. About 80 accidents have alreay happened. No telling how many have not been reported.


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## GoatMann (Jul 20, 2006)

*Keep it real!*

No, Keep it real. Dont change it, keep it the way it is. 

Send one every week with the current date on it. Until you get a response that's when you know someone actually read it. Then you can stop sending it. 

Complaints are always forgotten, it's the insults that stick with you! 

Good show~!


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

*I think your letter was good. The part about him shoving the letter up his ass was a bit over the top and it will assure you of not getting a response you'll be satisfied with. However I doubt you'd get a response anyway. *


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## b_a_betterperson (Feb 16, 2005)

DrFix2Fly said:


> I brought my car in with aftermarket wheels


As far as I'm concerned, if this happened to your car and it had aftermarket wheels on it that you specified and bought -- you're the cause of the problem.


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## DrFix2Fly (Oct 27, 2004)

You made an assumption about the wheels. I removed the originals which had the damage and replaced them with aftermarket ones that fit better. I did a better job wheel fitting than original. I would have reused the original rims if GM offered a disposition on what size tire to use on them or revised alignment specs. Anything would be better than nothing. I feel the 245/17 combination is the root of the problem and are not safe. This is the subject of the NHSTA investigation.


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## Wing_Nut (Mar 6, 2005)

None of my OEM tires ever showed evidence of the dreaded strut rub in 25,000 miles. But the tires did suck.

I blew two of the OEM 245/17 tires on my GTO. Both were on the rear at the time of failure. And both failed at over 140MPH in separate incidents. Both were sidewall failures. Both were inflated to 34 PSI (before sidewall blowout). By the time I stopped the first time, the tire was dripping molten rubber and the entire outer sidewall was gone. The inner sidewall was fine. Sounded like a gunshot when that sucker let go. I've never had a sidewall failure on any other car. To be fair, I did beat the crap out of those tires. Hard launches in a 3,700 Lb car and spinning the tires is likely not endorsed by the manufacturer. Still, I'm done with BFG.

Amazingly, the GTO was easy to control and bring to a stop both times. Even more amazing, the wheels weren't damaged either time. Deceleration kept the weight off the rear end. Just took a while.


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## PEKO (Nov 30, 2006)

The customer we have here now had the 18" Bridgestone's on it. But I called the tire place, and what they said was. Say your tires are supposed toi be 34lbs. If the tire is 10% less than what they want in there, which would mean 3.4lbs, means the tire is flat, according to the tire industry. So if its supposed to have 34lbs, and it was 30.6 and lower. Its flat. Thats what happened in this case.


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## Red Bearded Goat (Mar 19, 2007)

PEKO said:


> The customer we have here now had the 18" Bridgestone's on it. But I called the tire place, and what they said was. Say your tires are supposed toi be 34lbs. If the tire is 10% less than what they want in there, which would mean 3.4lbs, means the tire is flat, according to the tire industry. So if its supposed to have 34lbs, and it was 30.6 and lower. Its flat. Thats what happened in this case.


Peko,
Good info about tire overheating due to low inflation pressure. My GTO door sill states 33 psi front and 39 psi rear for the 18" tires that came with the car from the factory. I believe the 17's are 34 psi F&R (short of confirming via the manual, don't quote me on that as fact). I use a digital gauge that reads in half psi increments and keep the tires on the mark by checking once a week or after radical ambient temperature changes in a short time period. Doing this I can get 150 ~ 200% of rated wear life from my other rides. Unfortunately not from the goat. I like lighting up the rear way too much! 

Red


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