HHR SS airbags went off, no accident, no rollover
Senior Member
Joined: 07-19-2008
Posts: 183
From: Somewhere
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: 10-07-2010
Posts: 18
From: P-Town, Illinois
Thanks for all of the input folks, it is much appreciated. It is good to know that there is a great community of people on this site that are willing to read and provide advice.
At this point, the only thing that I am out is the car itself, yes it stinks to make payments and pay for insurance when the car is inoperable. I am lucky enough to have a good weather backup vehicle to get me back and forth.
If there is one thing that I have learned with age, it is patience.
When I bought my first brand new car, it ended up in the dealer for repairs 16 times in less than 1 year, I filed a lemon law claim with a local attorney against the automaker and after a few months, many interviews, car inspections and the like, the automaker agreed to pay up, but only the fees to the law firm. I still had to deal with the car. Was it a pain? yep, was it worth it? no and yes, no because it didn't turn out how I wanted it to, yes because I felt like I went the extra mile to fight for what was right. Would I do it again, knowing what I know now? Probably not.
At this point, as I mentioned earlier, I am going to be patient, wait and see what they come back with and go from there. Is this being optimistic? yep, but why not.
At this point, the only thing that I am out is the car itself, yes it stinks to make payments and pay for insurance when the car is inoperable. I am lucky enough to have a good weather backup vehicle to get me back and forth.
If there is one thing that I have learned with age, it is patience.
When I bought my first brand new car, it ended up in the dealer for repairs 16 times in less than 1 year, I filed a lemon law claim with a local attorney against the automaker and after a few months, many interviews, car inspections and the like, the automaker agreed to pay up, but only the fees to the law firm. I still had to deal with the car. Was it a pain? yep, was it worth it? no and yes, no because it didn't turn out how I wanted it to, yes because I felt like I went the extra mile to fight for what was right. Would I do it again, knowing what I know now? Probably not.
At this point, as I mentioned earlier, I am going to be patient, wait and see what they come back with and go from there. Is this being optimistic? yep, but why not.
Senior Member
Joined: 07-05-2008
Posts: 5,464
From: Akron Ohio
NTSB really won't solve anything here but may help someone else if there are more.
I would not say GM is not hnest but they will do things to cover their butts.
The way the legal system is in this country anymore only the lawyers win. Companies pay a ton of money to some legit claims and many dishonest claims of customers and often can not defend themselves.
Case in point. We had a local man get drunk and hit a tree at 90 MPH. The Blazer no pun intended caught fire. The family took GM to court and won because GM could not use the fact he was drunk and hit a damn tree at 90 MPH. I hate to say it but any car is at risk of fire after a crash like that. FYI the Family got money but the lawyer got more.
These cases are the norm anymore. It has made companies affraid to take responsibility many time and back away from things like this.
Because of this everyone pays for poorer service and higher prices on our cars.
A Ford engineer told me once they can no longer make cars fool proof they have to make them idiot proof for the fear of lawsuits.
As for fear of this happening to anyone else get over it. Out of how many people here over how many years has anyone had this issue? It is rare no matter the car and no one should be affraid of this. Odds are it was nothing more than a sensor failure. The light coming on prior to this was more than not a clue there was a pending issue in the system. Anytime you get a light it sets a code hard code and it should be checked out.
I had a light a couple weeks ago and the dealer jumped right on it and replaced the belt and harness due to high resistance in the system. No more issue not hassels and even a loaner. The main key is often the dealer you work with.
I would not say GM is not hnest but they will do things to cover their butts.
The way the legal system is in this country anymore only the lawyers win. Companies pay a ton of money to some legit claims and many dishonest claims of customers and often can not defend themselves.
Case in point. We had a local man get drunk and hit a tree at 90 MPH. The Blazer no pun intended caught fire. The family took GM to court and won because GM could not use the fact he was drunk and hit a damn tree at 90 MPH. I hate to say it but any car is at risk of fire after a crash like that. FYI the Family got money but the lawyer got more.
These cases are the norm anymore. It has made companies affraid to take responsibility many time and back away from things like this.
Because of this everyone pays for poorer service and higher prices on our cars.
A Ford engineer told me once they can no longer make cars fool proof they have to make them idiot proof for the fear of lawsuits.
As for fear of this happening to anyone else get over it. Out of how many people here over how many years has anyone had this issue? It is rare no matter the car and no one should be affraid of this. Odds are it was nothing more than a sensor failure. The light coming on prior to this was more than not a clue there was a pending issue in the system. Anytime you get a light it sets a code hard code and it should be checked out.
I had a light a couple weeks ago and the dealer jumped right on it and replaced the belt and harness due to high resistance in the system. No more issue not hassels and even a loaner. The main key is often the dealer you work with.
Senior Member
Joined: 07-05-2008
Posts: 5,464
From: Akron Ohio
Thanks for all of the input folks, it is much appreciated. It is good to know that there is a great community of people on this site that are willing to read and provide advice.
At this point, the only thing that I am out is the car itself, yes it stinks to make payments and pay for insurance when the car is inoperable. I am lucky enough to have a good weather backup vehicle to get me back and forth.
If there is one thing that I have learned with age, it is patience.
When I bought my first brand new car, it ended up in the dealer for repairs 16 times in less than 1 year, I filed a lemon law claim with a local attorney against the automaker and after a few months, many interviews, car inspections and the like, the automaker agreed to pay up, but only the fees to the law firm. I still had to deal with the car. Was it a pain? yep, was it worth it? no and yes, no because it didn't turn out how I wanted it to, yes because I felt like I went the extra mile to fight for what was right. Would I do it again, knowing what I know now? Probably not.
At this point, as I mentioned earlier, I am going to be patient, wait and see what they come back with and go from there. Is this being optimistic? yep, but why not.
At this point, the only thing that I am out is the car itself, yes it stinks to make payments and pay for insurance when the car is inoperable. I am lucky enough to have a good weather backup vehicle to get me back and forth.
If there is one thing that I have learned with age, it is patience.
When I bought my first brand new car, it ended up in the dealer for repairs 16 times in less than 1 year, I filed a lemon law claim with a local attorney against the automaker and after a few months, many interviews, car inspections and the like, the automaker agreed to pay up, but only the fees to the law firm. I still had to deal with the car. Was it a pain? yep, was it worth it? no and yes, no because it didn't turn out how I wanted it to, yes because I felt like I went the extra mile to fight for what was right. Would I do it again, knowing what I know now? Probably not.
At this point, as I mentioned earlier, I am going to be patient, wait and see what they come back with and go from there. Is this being optimistic? yep, but why not.
Moral victories feel good but can get expensive.
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: 10-07-2010
Posts: 18
From: P-Town, Illinois
Latest update
The customer claims center called yesterday. GM made a point to tell me that the issue was "elevated" to their department.
They went through the same line of questions that I've been asked from every person at GM that I've discussed this with, injuries, property damage, has insurance been notified, have you obtained a rental car, what happened and when, where is the car.
They advised that they need to perform another inspection of the vehicle to look for any unseen damage to the undercarriage and wheels but also to download information from the car and airbag module to determine if the airbags did what they were supposed to do or if there was a mechanical defect. Once the inspection is complete, it will go to GM Engineering for analysis before a final outcome is reached.
Finally, GM asked (for the first time) What is your expected outcome / what do you want GM to do? My response (in not so many words) take your car back.
Their response, the side curtain airbags are a predictive system that are designed to go off if the vehicle senses a rollover, not after a rollover occurs.
We shall see what happens next.
The customer claims center called yesterday. GM made a point to tell me that the issue was "elevated" to their department.
They went through the same line of questions that I've been asked from every person at GM that I've discussed this with, injuries, property damage, has insurance been notified, have you obtained a rental car, what happened and when, where is the car.
They advised that they need to perform another inspection of the vehicle to look for any unseen damage to the undercarriage and wheels but also to download information from the car and airbag module to determine if the airbags did what they were supposed to do or if there was a mechanical defect. Once the inspection is complete, it will go to GM Engineering for analysis before a final outcome is reached.
Finally, GM asked (for the first time) What is your expected outcome / what do you want GM to do? My response (in not so many words) take your car back.
Their response, the side curtain airbags are a predictive system that are designed to go off if the vehicle senses a rollover, not after a rollover occurs.
We shall see what happens next.
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Joined: 11-23-2007
Posts: 8,210
From: Texas
Senior Member
Joined: 04-16-2011
Posts: 149
From: florida
re
ok - i did miss it ...thanks mgr
so do we know to what degree the SDM sensor is calibrated to??
30 degrees?? - i beleive this is what it is is some import vehicles such as toyota - i also believe i have read that the Hummmer also is set at 30 degrees
so do we know to what degree the SDM sensor is calibrated to??
30 degrees?? - i beleive this is what it is is some import vehicles such as toyota - i also believe i have read that the Hummmer also is set at 30 degrees