Consumer SOS: New GM vehicle needs more than 50 repairs and counting

Elias Mitoulas says he thought the General Motors vehicle he bought would be perfect for his young family, but he regrets his decision to buy the redesigned 2018 Chevrolet Traverse.

“I’d like them to just replace the vehicle,” Mitoulas told Global News in an interview.

After about 7,000 kilometres of driving, he said the vehicle developed a range of issues such as windows that would open but not close as well as rear mirrors that would retract when the vehicle was placed in reverse and not return to the original position.

Mitoulas also said when the vehicle was put into drive, it would often slip in to reverse without warning.

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“You put it in gear, it gives a hard kick,” he said, listing one problem after another.

Mitoulas said the most frightening issue was when the Traverse lost power during a snow storm on a major highway last winter.

“The whole vehicle’s electrical system went down,” he said, calling it a terrifying experience.

GM, which manufacturers the Traverse at a plant in Lansing, Michigan, covered the costs of all the repairs and has provided rental vehicles. However, Mitoulas said he’s brought the vehicle to a Toronto dealership more than 50 times, noting the staff call him by his first name now.

“They go, ‘Elias, welcome, how are you?’” he said, frustrated that he’s had to return over and over again to have the problems addressed.

READ MORE: Ontario Kia customer frustrated with long repair delays

Mitoulas said the vehicle has been back at the dealership since Sept. 23.

General Motors said it is doing everything possible to fix the problems, but ruled out replacing the vehicle — saying it’s “not feasible.”

“We’ve had multiple touchpoints with Mr. Mitoulas on the concerns he has raised,” said Jacqueline Thomson, a spokesperson for GM.

“We’ve engaged one of our field engineers to work with the dealer to validate the sufficiency of all repairs and confirm normal operating condition of the vehicle.”

Mitoulas said he’s been told that the dealership is now replacing the vehicle’s transmission.

 

LexCTJill, please don’t just cut and paste articles without commenting on them.

why did you post this?
what do you think of it?

 

Seems like the guy got a lemon of a car. A whole article about one owner’s bad experience. Chevy sells tons of Traverses. obviously most don’t experience what this guy has.

 

It is significant: because GM won't replace the car.


I was not aware there is a forum policy.

 

Assuming this story is actually true, that's quite a list of factory defects. Reminds me of some of the stuff that Chrysler built decades ago, and of GM's own X-Body compacts in the early 1980s. (ask me how I know LOL)

First, this begs the question if at least some of these problems could have been found (or detected) with an adequate test-drive before delivery. Several years ago (it would be a very old thread by now) I posted a list of things that, by my experience, on a new vehicle, should be checked out, both by static-inspection and a test drive behind the wheel. Vehicles, in general, are much better how in how they are screwed together than they were decades ago (particularly with things like wheel-alignment and tire/wheel defects and imbalances), but occasional problems slip through, particularly with BMWs and some American brands.

Second, it begs the question if this poor vehicle might have just been the result of some disgruntled employees on the assembly line, who got pi**ed-off at GM or their factory bosses and simply took it out in their work. Normally, stuff like this would be caught in quality-control, but if the people doing the quality control are also ticked-off, well.......

Since it was a model-year 2018, we can assume it was built before GM announced the multiple plant closings last November and REALLY got a lot of people ticked-off (assembly-lines usually convert over to next-year production in the summer and early fall). But local factory issues and conflicts between labor and management, for many reasons, can develop at any time.

 

A good friend has a 2018 Traverse and loves it. No issues at all. I have to wonder if we have all the information.

 

like the guy drove the thing through a lake.

 

a sample of 1 isn't significant.

i'm checking the rules/faq to see if it's in there but it's what we've done for years (no article or video posts with no comments).

 

And there are guidelines for when a carmaker will or will not replace a car. There's a buyback process, we don't know if he's tried to get it qualified for a buyback or what. "Replacing the car" is a really significant step that is extremely rare, its not a pair of pants. As somebody who has had/has a vehicle that has a lot of problems (nowhere near as severe as his problems) its a huge PITA that you dont really understand until it happens to you. Sometimes you need to just trade the car in on something else and move on. Thats what this guy should do.

 

Hopefully GM will step up and do something for this guy. I feel for the man

 

You are interpreting this as this equates issues with all Traverse products. I do not, the article and media source is trying to get GM to maybe step up and just replace the guys car with a new one.

 

Either GM has all the information of whether there were 50 repairs done etc or they do not. Proper journalistic guidelines would of been to check and vet whether this man is telling the truth

 

Tell that to the owner of this lemon.

 

no doubt a really bad experience for him, but no, gm doesn't have to replace this 2018 minivan. there are laws to handle 'lemons' but they only apply during the early ownership i believe, which makes sense because over time gm has no idea how the car was treated and whose fault each issue is.

for all we know, the window going down but not up is because one of his kids poured a cup of koolaid down the slot.

anyway, very bad story, but something feels off, like there's more to the story than this. he's really been to the dealer 50 times in a year?

 

Sounds like they're doing everything they can do...

You also have to ask, are these actually faults with the vehicle or are they perceived issues that they're taking steps to try and remedy? Like "the vehicle slips into reverse", the Traverse has a physical gearshift, how can it "slip into reverse when going into drive"? Of these "50 issues" what are the issues? For instance if you added up the number of "issues" ive had with my Pacifica its a lot of issues, but they're all very minor.