This is what I got at about 4,000 miles if I remember.The column was not locked ,but the car would start then die when you gassed it .Had it towed and the BSM was fried,replaced under waurnty ,I installed the CLB as sopon as I got it back and almost 13,000 now and no problems.

 

The problem is this, even if GM agreed to disable the M6 locks they cannot legally do it & won't. The governemt won't allow it as all cars must have a trans lock or steering column lock. Agreed it is a stupid law as it does nothing to really prevent theft, I believe it is to prevent a child from getting in a car a releasing the parking brake & hurting him or herself. GM would have to request a waiver for it. GM has not been pressured by owners about this because we "fix" it ourselves via the CLB. It is time to put GM in the center of this not us. Also in reality if you put the CLB on & some kid gets in your car & gets hurt some smart lawyer might see this & sue the owner for damages & then the insurance company sees you tampered with a federal requirement then the insurance company might say you are on your own as we all know how heartless insurance companies are. GM made the car, let them make it right.

 

The fix would be for GM to replace the entire steering column with a revamp. That would cost them. Installed the bypass 3 years now with no problems

 

Is it only me, but something doesn't add up here.

The car in question is claimed to have the CL lock WHILE DRIVING and your response is to order the CLB? If it in fact locked while driving the first time, that would be a very serious defect that GM claimed could virtually never happen, and I would bet a call to their customer service and/or legal department and/or NTSB would have people going over your car with a fine tooth comb to see why it did that.

So rather than refuse to drive a seriously defective death trap car, you ordered an aftermarket bypass and just ignore a serious defect? Now you claim the problem happend again, which further indicates the locking mechanism is defective and likely marginally unlocked without the correct clearance.

I saw on one of your other threads on this same subject you turned the A/C on to cool the car to cause the locking pin to unlock?

I wouldn't go anywhere near my car until a Chevy checked the problem and at least replaced the column lock motor, plate and verified the clearance was in spec. THEN I would install the CLB.

I checked some of your other posts. You seem to have a lot of complaints about GM (apparently gas gauge problems too) and also complain that no dealer will perform the recall work???? Where did you buy the car? Why can't GM customer service find you a local dealer to work on your car??? Or is there some other problem.

Something doesn't smell right.

 

The column lock actuator should be on the upper right hand side of the column and looks like this:

 

Did you remove that yourself? If so, what'd did you have to do to get that out?

 

It is crazy to quote that this will happen after 1500 cycles! (quoted earlier in this post) I was interested in this issue and wanted to gather the facts, that was why I did the following poll a while back...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=966943 .

Per that poll about 74% of the C5's on this forum have NEVER experienced the column lock problem. I agree it is a bad design and something is going on here, but we do need to stick to the facts.

New folks will go crazy from a few vocal folks if they don't proceed carefully and gather all the facts. There are a lot of individual cases here and the story seems to be a little different each time. Tread carefully on generalisms is my advise.

I have not yet seen anything or done the CLB, but my 04 Z is only 2 months old and I am still collecting the facts for myself.

EagleFlight

 

Why can't GM just simply come up with a permanent fix for this before someone gets seriously hurt, I don't care how skilled you are as a driver, when you're at highway speed or any other speed and your steering is gone, you are in big, big trouble PERIOD, someone at GM must be reading these posts

 

There is a permanent fix, but they won't install it in manual tranny cars.

 

The reason GM never fixed it is in a way because of us. Most Corvette owners fear going to the dealers for service & install the CLB. So the NHTSA never got all complaints that they should have. They investigated reports of our cars locking up while driving & GM convinced them that Corvette drivers did not realize that they were still locked while backing out of our driveways & the NHTSA bought that BS from GM that this was the locking up while moving. If it did happen as said here about locking up while driving contact the NHTSA maybe then they can grant us M6's a waiver to disable it. Think about this GM says this last "fix" will solve it, then answer this if so why then remove it from the A4, they are admiting they have no fix but can remove it because they legally can from the A4 since the trans locks.

 

I aways say there's two types of motorcycle riders... The ones that have busted their butt and the ones that are going to bust their butt! The same holds true for the column lock problem. You need another category.... Locked up twice, roll-back hauled to dealer both times and service department replaced faulty relay. 'Pull key wait 10 sec' message followed by 'Service column lock' message, taken to dealer, (Pre-recall), wife's $160 Oakleys stolen while at dealer(Mr. Goodwrench is my suspect), couldn't replicate problem, installed CLB, recall done by dealer, even thought they were told not to, taken back to dealer twice due to 'pull key' message, new relay installed, plugged relay into my CLB, Unplugged relay from my harness K, still got 'pull key' message a couple of months later, threw up hands and traded Vette for a Magnum Hemi RT ... If you will add that category, put me down for 1.

In other words, I'm thinking this minimal survey might not be representative of the scope of the problem with which we suffer. Either way, good luck to everyone. I hope everything works out.

 

My earlier poll was the best attempt thus far to try to quantify how many of us had actually experienced this problem. Up to that point we only had the periodic post of a newly occurred complaint. No statistics. I tried with 10 options to capture the basic premise, I think you fell under "had the problem, had CLB, did recall, still having the problem" (a very small number by the way - 3 out of 109). At least I made an effort.

If folks tried not to be so sarcastic and actually tried to compile some info (facts and statistics) in an organized way on this topic using these vette forums ( very powerful tool), then the facts would get out and something might actually change at GM.

Otherwise we are all just complaining individually based on our experiences. Few folks are going to post "hey no problem with the column lock on my car", there is just no motivation for it - even though they are in the silent majority as I understand it...

I know when it happens to me (if it does) I will be pissed.

I would like to see a moderator of this forum make a poll with a sticky that reflects what ever options they think will charaterize the problem and it's frequency/statistics across all of our C5'ers. That way we will understand and the info will be there for GM. It would be a start.

I love my Z by the way!

EagleFlight

 

The reason folks like myself don't post "hey no problem with the column lock on my car" is because the responses you get on this forum are:
You must be an idiot!
That's just plain stupid!
You been on this board 5 yrs. and you still don't get it!
It's not if it will happen but when it will happen!
ROCKnROLL

 

R&R:

I read the first page of posts and it looked like an atypical CL
problem where the CL "seemed" to lock up AFTER the CLB was installed.

I dropped the reading and am now reviewing the last few threads.

I agree with some of your points in that some folks throw in a response
which doesn't seem to address the original poster. Some people just
like to say or something non-helpful.

The point is, there is really nothing we can do about his problem.

If the column locks even after the CLB is installed, he has to go it alone.
No amount of complaining or commiserating by us will help.

GM knows about the issue of CL and addressed it a number of ways that
gets them off the hook legally. They are aware that the rare
instance or the column locking while driving also occurs.
It seems they acknowledge that the lockin plate clearance is the culprit and will change that out, if....AND ONLY IF, it is reproduceable.

If I were the original poster and if indeed this has happened, I would
remove the CLB and see an attorney ASAP. NOT to sue but to get
a voice of seriousness to the complaint.

My guess is that there have been more than a few accidents or at least
incidents on some cars which are due to column locking while driving.

But the bean counters and GM (other manufacturers as well) attorneys
do the math and assess the risks and decide that they can handle
whatever comes their way financially by not admitting to a safety fault.

The locking while parked is more of an inconvenience to us customers
than it is to GM. If they can reproduce it, they'll fix it.

At the same time, some owners are also guilty of stretching the truth
on some faults or at least have a part in causing their problems.

We've seen that happen here a number of times. Not to say the CL
is one of those times, but GM looks at that too.

However, if it were me and I truly experienced (more than once)
a lock while driving, I'd park the car and see a lawyer.

A serious accident could occur and if a fatality happened, nobody is
going to look for a locked column as being at fault. Investigators
would just say the occupant fell asleep and drove across 3 lanes of
traffic.
I wonder how many time this has actually happened?

...George

 

Which Kevin Whitaker dealership in Greenville won't work on it? The one near Cherrydale point may not, but the one on Laurens Rd most certainly will. I go there all the time and have been very pleased with their work. Call Gary (Svc advisor) or Rick (Svc Manager) at this one and I'm sure they'll help you out. I've never been to a better dealership.

And how in the world is City in Charlotte a 4 hour drive? I can get to Charlotte and back in 3 hours from Greenville, and you're closer than I am by 20 minutes...

Listen, you either want to fix this problem or you don't. Your car apparently has an anomoly that you need to address. You need to remove the locking pin from the steering column. Somehow it's worn such that it can engage while driving, which is VERY VERY rare for a C5. I've only heard of 2-3 cases of this in 5 years. The steering wheel and airbag come off easily...

If you're not that ambitious and love the Corvette, maybe you should consider trading it in on a newer model. Chances of you getting another problematic vehicle are nearly 0% with regard to locking while driving or locking at all with the CLB bypassed.

I'm sure you're frustrated...and I wish you the best, but GM's not going to fix it, so you need to take it into your own hands. If you're worried about theft, get an aftermarket device...

Josh

 

I wasn't disrespecting your effort. I was actually trying to be funny. Apparently I was unsuccessful in your case. So be it. Anyway I fixed my problem permanently. Out of the C5 and looking seriously at another C4. I was actually much happier with my C4 and since I don't use my Corvettes much, I can enjoy it more. At least my C4 never told me to pull the damn key out and wait 10 seconds.

 

OH my God!!
I thought i was safe with my CLB

 

Just to be clear, those that have only recently purchased a C5 can not understand what many of us have gone through with this problem. At the risk of offending, I'll use another analogy... "Minor surgery is surgery someone else is having". One who has not yet experienced the years and years of trying to get this problem resolved can only imagine what many of us have put up with. I have no problem with gathering data to make decisions. But one must understand that many here have made a sincere effort to resolve this problem, or at least get some relief from GM. For many of us, every time we start our cars, we stare at the DIC to see if the dreaded display will appear. It's never out of our minds. My weak attempt at a humorous chronology of things that have taken place with my car related to the column lock does not reflect the overall frustration I've experienced in having to deal with this problem. As far as doing something about it, I'm not going to even attempt to say that I've made a big difference on this issue, but many will remember the 'Ask Dave Hill' segment where I posed this issue to him a few years ago and asked why GM had not done a recall on this known issue. He danced around the answer, but admitted there were some problems. Not long after that, the first recall was initiated. Could be a coincidence, who knows. A lot of good people on this forum have make a sincere effort over the years to gather information and make informed decisions concerning this problem.

In many threads on this issue, I've recommended going with the Harness K to eliminate the problem. It's not perfect, but it's the best we've got right now. The other thing is to get the longest GM Protection Plan you can get. That ended up being my best insurance. Good luck.

 

No, it's not only you. I have some of the same questions.

 

Thanks for the pictures TEXHAWK0. I can't quite figure-out from looking at my steering column what is what. Also, I really don't like the idea of working that close to the airbag.

That one doesn't even have a service department! How are they going to work on it? Those guys would never fix a thing even when the car was under warranty, and all of the other Corvette owners I've talked to that bought a car from them had very strong negative opinions of them. Just ask me about my experience getting my stereo fixed. I wasn't able to get them to fix it so I ended-up replacing it out of my pocket a couple of months after I bought the car.

Out of all the dealerships I've dealt with, those guys are the worst. Maybe I expect too much after owning a Lexus before I bought my Corvette, but I never expected to be treated this badly. I've always wanted a Corvette, but this experience has never been fun. Other than driving to Charlotte a week ago, I haven't driven this car more than 30 miles from home in over three years. I just don't trust it.

Actually it took me closer to five hours with traffic when I drove there on Dec 15. Keep in mind that City Chevrolet is on the other side of Charlotte through downtown. It is a pain to get to from I-85 from the west. You might be able to get there and back in 3 hours...in the middle of the night.

I've since talked to GM on the phone several more times. Now I'm getting angry. I've got another car to drive, so I've just been driving it or I'd be even more mad about the problem. I don't know who to talk to there, because no one I've talked to yet seems to give a damn. I don't know yet what my next step will be.