I have a C6 which I bought new in 2005 and which has been a great car. I have a little over 40,000 miles on it. No electronic gimmicks or gadgets, just stock except for new exhaust and air intake. 6 speed manual (what else). I started to notice some strange behavior with the key fob--car door would open without the fob in my pocket and the fob alert would sound (horn) when I left the car with the fob in my pocket. I changed the battery in the fob. 1 1/2 months ago I opened the drivers side door to enter the car and it started before I got in it. In reverse because that's how you park the car to shut down the electronics. Could have been really bad but I was able to dive out of the way before getting run over by the door. I watched the car go backwards in a circle before I was able to get back in and put it in neutral. Then I could not shut it off. Finally got it shut off after repeatedly pushing the starter button. Tried to restart it and could not until I opened the door and it started without pushing the starter--again. Obviously a misfire of some sort. GM "investigated" by downloading the computer. They did not even try to start the car. So you all know, they denied any problem with the car. I will pursue legally but will not take the car back from them. If this has happened or does happen to your C6 know that GM is aware of the problem and is ignoring it

 

That sounds, uh, "interesting"...................

 

Never heard of that happening before. Sounds like Christine from the Steven King movie. I hope you get it figured out, and good luck.

 

That could have been really, really bad. Glad you weren't run over, or that property wasn't damaged.

So, it's with the dealer---what now?

 

I can't believe it myself. 11 years with no mishap, but electronic systems fail regularly and safeties don't always work. My guess is this is a repetitive injury but I am not sure how. The seat slides back and forth and there is a wiring harness underneath it which was the subject of a recall. If GM would get off their *** maybe they would discover the problem. Fortunately the dealer knows corvettes and will do their own investigation.

 

Good dealer and they are dismayed with the lack of attention paid by GM. A contract investigator who did no more than download the computer. Never tried to start or drive the car. The dealer assumed GM would send an engineer to go over the car. Maybe because it is a 2005--lack of interest and little chance that a defect would be traced to a manufacturer's defect, though there must be one. As I posted earlier, 2005 C6 recalls have occurred based on damage to the wiring harness under the drivers seat caused over time by the automatic repositioning of the seat during enter and exit. The problem was supposedly related to airbags and driver assist. Not sure whether the problem I had could have been caused by wiring harness damage or not. I am sue this is a risk-reward decision by GM and they did not take it seriously. Pretty bad since I bought a car- and helped pay to bail them out via my taxes.

 

The under-seat issue w. wiring lasted well into the model run to my knowledge. Most took to a clip or zip tie to anchor it so it stayed put and out of the way.

 

A car that starts by itself sounds like an issue with the starter button.

 

GM will do nothing because the car is over ten years old, unless the government forces them to do so. Possible body control module or that harness under the seat?

 

My guess is the starter button has a short. I'm not that far from you, can I come over and see it in action ??

Have you tried spraying the starter button with circuit cleaner? It sounds like the button sees the fob present and instead of it going to green ; it shorts and starts. Perhaps a new starter button is in order. Cultrag has a sale on parts this weekend.

 

The oddest thing about this is that there is a clutch position/starter safety switch on the car, and so not only do you have a possible issue with the push button switch, you also apparently have a failure of the safety switch.

I'd ask the tech at the Chevy dealer to explain the starting circuit to you so that you can develop a troubleshooting method.

What has the dealership done to prevent your car from damaging itself/people/property while they have it? If I had a car that acted like Christine, I'd ensure that it was immobile at all times!

Steven

 

Never ever heard of this happening before.

My best guess is also a shorted out starter switch.

And..........there was a TSB eliminating the need to put the M6 in reverse in order for the computer to shut down/save the battery.

Good luck with this.

 

Sounds like some of the posts just above mine here are pretty good at analyzing the situation, and I'm not knocking the current dealer. They may just not have a lot of experience. Glen1224's offer to come over is a generous offer, but I believe you said you left it at the dealer. I've sent you an email with some other names--hope it all gets worked out.

 

Never had this issue....don't recall reading about a similar issue.

FOB registers in range, alarm disarms, car unlocks w/ opening the door, interior lights go on. Then the starter motor activated.

Clutch safety switch, start button systems were bypassed in this scenario.

I don't know the answer or have any leads.

Good luck.

 

Wow-how bizarre... Glad you weren't hurt. I'd take it to a different dealer-or even have the member above that offered to help look at it.

Good luck, hope you get things figured out.

 

No advice here...just curious.

 

Please! For your safety, and the safety of others....set your parking brake EVERY TIME you leave your car!!!

 

That issue is very disturbing to me, lucky that you weren't run over... I would think seriously about a trade in, I couldn't ever be comfortable ever again with that car

 

Something way off, since even if the start button was broken somehow, the button should not even work until you press the clutch all the way down to active the clutch pedal button to start with.


So even it is a faulty starter switch, then this would still require for either the clutch pedal switch (on on the floor boards) to be faulty as well, or someone programmed the switch out of the ecm.

Short of all of this, then would have be a faulty Onstar module that is calling out to start the car isntead (will over ridethe ECM programming that calls for both the starter to be pushed, and the bottom clutch pedal switch to be pressed).

So on that note, if you do have the 05 onstar module, but do not have a subscription for it, then bypass the VCIM to take it out of play. Hence the 05 Onstar module will not work, even with a subscription, since it needs to be updated instead.

If it has been upgraded, and in service, then have Onstar double check to make sure it does not having a programming error, or faulty instead.

And on the positive note, the On star module is a On star problem, not a GM problem, so ON Star will be the one to resolve that for free if you have a subscription to ON Star.

 

Since all those problems trace back to the RCDLR, that'd be the first place I'd look. It's not like they haven't gone bad before, but this one sounds extreme.
IIRC, the RCDLR relays the signal to start the car, so if it has an internal short across a trace or a cracked PC board, it could activate stuff without the need for checks and balances. i.e. bypassing door switches and clutch switch.