I don't see this complication as being "MINOR." When a vehicle will stall, meaning it kills the performance of the vehicle, it's MAJOR" in my books. We can back our vehicle model, but we shouldn't have to back or make excuses for poor engineered vehicle and manufacturing!!!

By any token, I would hold the same expectation of any other purchased make or model.

I would never want my vehicle towed unless I can help it. Your vehicle body easily gets scraped etc. from the tow.

 

I was saying it is minor compared to a typical "recall" that involves fire or potential multiple car pileups. This is a cable and 30 minutes.

 

So the car in question lost power in a parking lot...(thank god) making it 'minor'.... or the fact that no one got hurt?

If this 'issue' happened to you and your wife/kids on a busy freeway.
How 'minor' would you feel about it then?

Potentially its a HUGE issue, hence why GM is fixing it.

 

Maybe people should keep some perspective though. Sudden power loss, even with an auto trans car, does not mean you suddenly are going to spin wild out of control. I could turn off the ignition of any of my cars (all are autos btw), lose power steering and brakes... and still safely glide off a busy freeway. Contrast this with what I actually saw happen once on a freeway... I was cruising beside another car on a busy freeway and one of his ball joints failed. The front wheel collapsed; he started to veer toward me (I was in the fast lane, he in middle lane); I floored it and moved over a little to clear him, then watched the confusion in my rear mirror. You know what though? Other than him ramming into the median barrier (medium damage but not a 'movie fireball')... it wasn't some kind of blammo-pileup like one would expect. People notice things on a freeway and everyone came to a stop pretty quick overall. YMMV

 

Re-read my post, please. I was making a comparison, and compared to the HUGE recalls that involve more than 300 cars and potential for many deaths more than that, yes, this in indeed minor. Here's a great example:
GM recalls 1.5 million cars due to fire risk

Wife and kid at side of road is annoying and frustrating, but minor when compared to wife and kid on fire.

 

how does the car lose all power anyway?

most cars the alternator would keep it running. WTF going on here....

is there a junction block?

 

It didnt really "lose a charge" as much as it lost its current flow because of a short. Any other vehicle will do the same thing if the main battery wire to the starter, alternator, or junction box shorts to ground.

 

I missed where it shorted to ground..... that will cause a fire real quick.

I thought it was just coming loose/dissconnected somehow

 

You are exactly right Boomer78. As I stated in my original post, I am thankful that my breakdown occurred when and where it did. Yes, because it happened without incident, it turned out to be minor. It was the intent of my wife (Bumleb on camaro5.com) and I to keep it 'minor' by posting on these two sites and notifying GM directly. Bravo Zulu to GM for jumping all over this and responding in such a timely manner. If nobody ever gets in, or causes a crash; if nobody ever gets injured; if nobody ever gets killed because this issue goes beyond someone's perspective, I'm good with that.

 

The portion of the cable that shorted to the starter had burned/melted the surrounding conduit and insulation, obviously the heavy gage wire and battery in trunk (...yes I said trunk) had gotten extremely hot as well. In fact after the tow guy and I figured out where the battery was located, it was still too hot to touch (about 30 minutes had elapsed since the electrical shutdown).

I have a picture of the damaged cable on my computer to share but it appears that images are only attachable by url and not as files, perhaps I can get an assist with this?

 

Glad you are ok Rumble. I'm also not trying to trivialize the issue - it is serious and warrants the timely response by GM.

But I also believe it's a testament to the rest of the design that there was no fire on your car. They do design electrical components for example, with low 'flash'/flammability in mind... just for situations like this. So shorts can happen and often it's just a matter of a couple things getting melted instead of a big fire. We've come a long way with modern polymers....

Overall I still agree with Jason. Taken in context this is not so huge, IMO. Plus it's not some kind of chronic, complex problem like a leaking PS pump. One new simple cable and you're done.

 

I'm onboard with your and Jason's assessment, in that it is a simple fix. I'm an electrician by trade (Naval Aviation type) and get what you're saying. Believe me, I'm not wanting to blow this up into more that what it is, at least for my particular situation. My intent was to simply to inform and do what I could to prevent a more serious incident. Everyone knows, or should, you can't pick and choose when a breakdown occurs (or in this case an electrical shutdown). Under ideal conditions, an accident can likely be avoided. But I deal with risk assessment everyday, so my mind may click differently than some, and the alarming situations I envisioned were a shutdown during night driving, inclement weather, low visibility, lack of shoulder or exit, etc. Toss in other variables such as heavy fast moving traffic (70mph+), steep grades, twisting roads, other drivers not paying attention and my intent here should be glaringly evident. Losing engine/electrical power translates into instant loss of headlights/tail lights/brake lights/blinkers/hazards etc., potentially resulting in coasting blindly, depending on visibility. Surrounding traffic will be oblivious to your situation or immediate intentions (assuming they can even see and/or avoid you)...I could go on and on, but everyone gets the picutre and can do their own assessments. A lot of folks on this site are professionals that take this knowledge for granted such as yourself and Jason, but there may be also quite a few out there that may think...ya know, I didn't really think about that. It's those people that need to be reached. When this happened to me and the lights went out, it took a couple of seconds just to grasp what happened and to react...fortunately, in a flat well lit parking lot it was simple enough to do.

No harm, no foul, and that's the way I wanted it to stay.

 

I appreciate your sharing of the malfunction and understand your tolorance of the defect.

If the battery heated up to that extent, it sounds pretty major. So many tested vehicle have been on the road prior to production, I am suprised not one entail this short.

Since this short compromised the vehicle operation, I suggest you have them warrant all electrical components on the vehicle, especially that on-board computer that regulates everything.

Is the dealer wanting to extend electrical component coverage for you?

Please let us know your finding.

It's amazing the short did not occur at the manufacture..... any notion yet on how that cable shorted?

 

I couldn't agree more. It would have been a sad night indeed to see my camaro on fire.

For all you folks at GM, and I sense that there are members on this site (which I was hoping for), I want to make it clear that I appreciate everything that went into this sexy beast. This is my first GM experience and you really knocked this one out of the park. Hats off to everyone involved.

 

Currently, the situation is that I am waiting on special wrapping tape so that the dealer can perform the permanent repair as per bulletin. For now my camaro has a new battery and temp repair on the affected cable, so I've been driving it to work without problem. I was told that a new cable will be installed with the protective wrap applied and the charred (but functioning) starter replaced as well. The exact cause is undetermined, a formal on-site investigation before anything was touched, removed, or repaired might have shed more light. But as far as what the service guys say, it was direct contact with the harness due to routing, which wore through the insulation and conduit. I have to wonder if movement from motor torque and/or frame flexing didn't supply the chaffing action necessary to wear through to the conductor. Hopefully the GM folks can get a better idea when, and if, they receive all the deffective components.

As far as extending warranty on all electrical components:

I hoped something of this nature (backed by GM) would have been 'offered' by now to restore my confidence factor and ease my wife's and my horrible experience the day we took delivery.

What I did receive was a phone call from GM customer service saying that they are sorry for my incovenience and that she is sending a $100.00 coupon to use however I wish. I asked about a warranty instead, and her reply was that my powertrain warranty is good for 5yr/100,000 miles. I mentioned that it's my electrical system I am concerned with and asked if I could get the extended GM wraparound warranty to match my powertrain, and she simply replied that she wasn't authorized to do that.

Personally, I feel that that an extended warranty is something that can be provided at no cost to GM (assuming nothing breaks of course); a small but superb concession considering what I've been through. My driving experience in a car of this magnitude and visibility should be a worry free experience.

I put enough faith in GM to order one the very first day I could, including a $2,000 non-refundable deposit on the order. I was forthcoming and paid the $5,000 mark-up on a vehicle I haven't even test driven. Not even getting the car home to my driveway has affected my confidence, and will always linger. The $100 is a nice gesture, but seems to come up short considering what I've put up and am dealing with. What I really want is 'peace of mind' which to me is priceless.