C8 Corvette Hoods are Opening at Speed (UPDATED with GM Recall Info!!)
C8 Corvette owners aren’t touching the release, but the hood is opening and damaging the vehicle.
UPDATED 8/21/20. Original post below…
Well, it finally happened, folks. Thanks to a report on CorvetteBlogger that was shared HERE on CorvetteForum, we know that General Motors has addressed the issue of the opening frunks with a safety recall. You can see a screen shot of the notification below, but it’s listed as GM Recall # N202311160 and includes a body-module update that prevents the C8 from driving over 26mph if the front trunk is open.
As you can see, GM still believes this is 100% an owner-operator failure despite some of our members claiming repeatedly that their vehicle offered no alarms or warnings.
Image Source: Corvette Blogger
Original Post 8/6/20:
Imagine cruising down the road in your brand new C8 Corvette. You aren’t hammering the car, just moving along with traffic at 35 miles per hour when the hood pops open and completely obstructs your view. You didn’t touch the button to open the cover for the frunk, but it still opened. It sounds unlikely for a new vehicle to run into such an issue, but according to multiple threads on the forum, this exact situation has happened to at least a dozen new Stingray owners.
Fortunately, there is no mention of any accidents being caused by the C8 Corvette hood flying open at speed. Some vehicles sustained damage to the hood and fenders. However, with the driver’s view being blocked when the hood is upright, it is only a matter of time before the situation becomes much worse. General Motors is currently blaming “user error” on the hoods opening, but it seems highly unlikely that this many people would accidentally open their hood at speed.
One of the owners whose hood opened at speed is “LuxMotion”, who shared his story and the images shown here of his gorgeous Corvette before and after the incident. There are several threads in the C8 section discussing this issue, but this is one of the most recent and the OP included images.
Corvette Hood Opened at 30mph
When the OP first shared his story with the forum, he provided full details on how long he has had his C8 Corvette and what he was doing prior to the hood opening on its own.
I just got my C8 delivered last week. I am the first owner of the car and today I was driving up PCH towards Malibu. Went up to 100-110 mph at times. Drove for about 100 miles. I stopped to get something to eat. Got back in my car and proceeded up the canyons for some spirited driving. The car is already broken in at 1300 miles.
I decided to pull off the road to take some pictures of the car. I put the car in park with the parking brake on and left the engine running. After I got the shots I wanted, I proceeded to drive down the canyon and within 15 seconds I heard the front hood latch click/thump (same sound you hear when you press the button to pop the hood) right before I saw the hood fly up and heard a snap. Luckily the hood did not hit my front windshield. I had my windows down and my roof off, did not have the radio on and it was quiet road. There were no warning lights that the hood latch was open/disengaged. Even when the hood flew up, there was no indicator light or beeping.
I put the hood back down as carefully as I could. There is some damage on both my front fenders (clear coat gouged) and the hood hinge is definitely bent. I had no choice but to try my best to close the hood since I was in an area with no reception in order to keep driving. In the closed position, the hood is now about 3/4 to 1 inch lower than each fender. Super paranoid I tried to drive as slowly as I can home, but I did reach speed up to 55 mph. Thankfully it did not happen again.
I saw youtube videos and even read articles where youtubers and GM spokesperson blames it on user error. I guarantee you guys this is not user error. I even reviewed the photos I took 15 seconds before it happened. My hood was definitely closed. I did not open the front trunk for the last 100 miles either. It should have blown open at 100mph if that was indeed the case.
First 2 are photos taken 15-30 seconds before the hood flies open.
His pictures are the first four in this piece.
GM Claims User Error
Since this OP is not the first C8 owner to deal with this issue, some other new Stingray owners have been to the dealership for the very problem. Unfortunately, General Motors claims that it is owners not making sure that their hood is closed before driving away, or they are hitting the button on the fob while driving.
There are some members who agree with GM that the owners are causing this, including “BenPlace”.
I wholeheartedly believe this is user error but at the same time GM needs to do something about this.
I am not aware of any other vehicles that allow the front hood to be popped out with a click of a button, and I know it won’t work in drive. Not working in drive doesn’t change the fact that you can easily hit the button in your car right before starting it or putting it in gear.
As with most cars, a rear trunk doesn’t have this issue.
Like others have mentioned, GM needs to do something before someone dies. Maybe not allowing the car to be put in drive if the frunk is not latched?
However, “RKCRLR” had an interesting rebuttal to that.
If you attribute this to user error you’d have to make the following assumptions (unless you think he isn’t telling the truth):
1) The OP accidentally pushed a frunk release button after he took the picture.
2) He didn’t see the big warning signal on the DIC.
3) Even with the radio off, he didn’t hear the chime.
4) What he thought sounded like the frunk latch releasing at 30 mph was something else.
5) He was so excited after the frunk opened that he still didn’t see the warning or hear the chimes after he stopped.Both Mclaren and Tesla have front opening frunk that open with a single button push and no secondary latch.
Having said that, I do think they need something like Tesla has where it requires you to physically dismiss a warning on the infotainment screen before you can drive the car with the frunk open.
The best solution would be to have an ergonomic safety latch that can easily be found and opened with one hand.
Watch It Happen
During the conversation, “BikerJulio” posted about his hood opening at roughly the same speed. When it happened to him, the camera on his Performance Data Recorder was running, so he caught it on video. We have included that video below, with the hood popping up towards the end of the short clip.
Sorry to hear. Your case is very typical of this. I’m losing track but I’m counting 12 cases now in the forums.
Mine is the video on YouTube and similar circumstances with no warning. I used the PDR as a dashcam, so far the only person to catch it happening. I recommend everyone uses their PDR this way.
There is likely damage to the hood attachment points, there is another thread here showing an extreme example. Look for cracking around the back of the hood attachment. But likely that the hood is toast. Likewise the hinges. The fenders need to come off to attach the hinges and should get repaired and repainted along with a new hood.
I’d also urge a report to NHTSA.
He was one of many members to suggest filing a report with the NHTSA. Based on comments later in the thread, it appears that around a dozen reports have been filed thus far.
This same member later shared a link to a post by “Rudyq” showing the damage to the underside of the hood from his new Corvette.
The Only Current “Fix”
So far, there is no way to fix the C8 Corvette hood in a way that prevents this from happening. Since General Motors is insisting that it is user error, it seems unlikely that the company will suddenly announce a solution for the problem. Some owners are looking at other cars with this type of latch system with the hopes of adding a secondary latch. That doesn’t do current owners any good though.
Fortunately, it seems that by removing the fuse for the hood (or frunk lid, if you prefer that term), you can prevent the hood from opening electronically. Fuse 18 in the fuse box controls the frunk opening, but “NeverEnough14” wonders if there are side effects of pulling that fuse.
Does Fuse 18 completely eliminate the ability to open the frunk? Does it disable any other features? Does it throw a code because the fuse is removed?
That was quickly answered by “Phil1098”.
1. No, you use the cable next to the brake pedal.
2. No, only the latch release circuit
3. No, all instrumentation is normal
While some might find this fix to be unacceptable, it seems to be a sure-fire way to guarantee that your hood doesn’t fly open at speed. In the long run, pulling a fuse is better than repairing extensive body damage.
In short, if you have a C8 Corvette Stingray, there seems to be a chance that your hood may pop open at lower speeds. There is no real fix, but you can prevent this from happening by pulling the fuse for the frunk release. With that being said, the problem is too widespread for GM to ignore it forever and with so many owners looking for a fix, there should be a real solution at some point. For now, it creates a very uncomfortable situation for owners of the new Stingray. If you have input or a question, or if you just want to read the lengthy thread, click here.
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