Reply #72: Despite Defect, G.M. Keeps Selling S.U.V.

[54anickel]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/business/23vue.html?oref=login&oref=login

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Mr. Rauchwerger bought a new Saturn Vue, a small sport utility vehicle, on Oct. 11, only to discover later, by chance, that the Vue's suspension system collapsed during rollover testing performed by the government over the summer. In August, G.M. said it would voluntarily recall all of the roughly 250,000 Saturn Vues on the road in the United States and Canada. The swift action by G.M. bolstered Saturn's reputation for adept customer care and quieted news reports about the problem.

But in the months since, G.M. has continued to sell 2004 models of the Vue from its dealer lots -probably more than 10,000 in the last three months. Most of the S.U.V.'s were not fixed before they were sold. To date, G.M. has fixed only a few thousand of the quarter-million existing Vue models because it takes time to procure new suspension parts for so many vehicles. The 2005 models were fixed before they left factories.

The government has permitted G.M. to continue selling Vues before they are fixed because it has determined that the highly unusual failure during its new rollover test does not constitute a safety defect. And the Vue is not actually the subject of a formal recall, but a less-stringent voluntary measure known as a service campaign that permits G.M. to keep selling the vehicle without fixing it.

Consumer groups say the government's decision raises questions about how seriously regulators take their own rollover test. And they are also disturbed that consumers have been buying vehicles that have not been fixed and that they might not even know about the problem.

Sherrie Childers Arb, Saturn's communications director, said G.M. had moved unusually quickly to address the issue. But there does not appear to have been any directive from G.M. to its dealers to discuss the problem with potential buyers, and Mr. Rauchwerger said he was not told about it.

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