Today, May 14, I received a letter from Chevrolet telling me that my 2009 Corvette equipped with a 6.2L engine and California Emission System may be emitting air pollutants in excess of the California vehicle emission standards. They want me to bring my car to my local dealer to have them reprogram the engine control module and replace the catalytic converters...free of charge. The end of the letter states: "Failure to do so could legally be determined to be lack of proper maintenance of you vehicle." Also: "The California Air Resource Board requires vehicle emission recalls to be completed prior to California registration renewal. Uncorrected emission recalls will result in the inability to renew your California vehicle registration." I guess California wants my car detuned from factory settings and restrictive cats installed. Has anyone else in California received this recall notice?
I guess my stock 2015 Subaru WRX will be faster than my Corvette after my dealer "downgrades" my Corvette.

 

I got the same letter today and I'm in NJ, purchased in NJ, registered in NJ and never been to Ca.

Odd I say.

 

There's another thread on here from a couple of weeks ago on the same subject that has several responses. I also have a 2009 and have not gotten a recall letter. Aren't all cars produced made to California emission standards?

I'll have mine replaced if I get a letter. We had a 2006 Caddy RSX and both cats failed (noisy, marbles-in-a-can noise). Luckily, it was still under warranty, but replacing cats is very expensive. And since the Caddy's failed, I figure GM has been known to put defective cats in vehicles.

Don't know if the re-flash will detune or not from the factory settings. If a person has had their car tuned aftermarket, I can see how they might not want to get this recall done.

 

That would be a good question for "Ask Tadge"

 

I'm listening in on this...

 

i am in nj. i received the recall letter today. dont think i will be bringing it in. think i can keep my stock cats and apply the credit to have them fix the trans that broke instead? my opinion on GM has severely changed since i bought the vette in '09.

 

I received the same letter yesterday on my 2009 and I live on Long Island. Seems strange since I thought that this would only apply to CA cars.

 

I'm in PA and the recall is for my 09 as well. I'll be very happy with free new cats from GM.

 

If it ain't broke and passes state inspection. Dont fix it!! Disregard any notice. IMO

 

I'll go with that. I don't even plan on getting the "Low Beam" recall done.

 

You can thank your state's government. 10 other states follow CARB (California Air Research Board) regulations (Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont).

 

Now if we could only get them to fix the things that need fixing.......

 

Here is the actual recall letter.
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Got my recall letter last week on a Ohio purchased vette,09?

 

Boy am I glad I own a 1st. year POS '05 with all the alleged problems!

 

I agree

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1589642718

 

I got the notice and nobody could tell me what was going to happen if I did it. So I weaseled my way into General Motors corporate and spoke to one of the top Corvette engineers. He told me that the catalytic converters are better than the stock units in that they flow more freely. He also said they will never plug up. Which is why the old ones were recalled. So if you leave the old ones on you are actually D tuning the car because the old ones are plugging up. get the recall done. In terms of the reprogramming of the engine control module he said all it does is lean out the air/fuel mixture at low rpm. There will be no performance change whatsoever. However mileage will increase in the city cycle. Now that I have had the recall done I can tell you the car is actually better performing than prior to the recall especially at low rpm. I was very wary of having this work done because fooling with the emissions is problematic at best. But I am very glad I had it done for two reasons the first reason is because the car sounds better the second reason is because the car performs better and I am actually seeing increased mileage as promised. I encourage you all to make your own decision however take this post as an indicator that the recall when performed correctly actually improves the vehicle in many ways. I hope this post helps you.

 

Thanks for the update. I have a 2008 with the (NU5) code in glove door so its only a matter of time before I get the notice. Emission component warranty covers 8 yrs. or 80k miles whichever comes first. Apparently, there is an issue with the 08-09 cats and maybe the EPA put some pressure on GM. Who knows?

 

Simply put, the car is better in several ways after performing the recall. The most notable improvement is 30 to 70mph throttle roll on...which now seems much faster. It also howls more at high rpm and drones less on the highway. It actually...please don't get mad....drives alot more like a C7 now.

 

That's good to hear!

However, one thing that the Corvette engineer mentioned is that the ECM would be programmed to lean air fuel at low rpm. The computer is programed to maintain 14.68 air fuel ratio at cruise or part throttle. Leaning out that value would probably do more harm to the catalytic converters and performance, especially with the ethanol in todays gas. From what you described with your car, I bet they leaned out open loop or wide open throttle values. This would increase performance, especially because the factory tune commands a rich 11.25 to 11.75 air fuel ratio. I would love to compare the new vs. original tune. When I get the recall done I will make a copy of the tune to compare. It will be interesting to see what GM actually did to the ECM.

The other reason that your car runs better just might be that your cats were starting to get clogged.

Enjoy your car!