Server: Netscape-Commerce/1.1 Date: Friday, 19-Dec-97 02:55:02 GMT Last-modified: Tuesday, 02-Sep-97 04:33:46 GMT Content-length: 3496 Content-type: text/html Current Investigations #4



THOUSANDS OF DRIVERS CLAIM ANTILOCK BRAKES
ON SOME 1991-1996 GM TRUCKS ARE DANGEROUS;
FEDERAL SAFETY OFFICIALS OPEN TWO MAJOR INVESTIGATIONS
AS ACCIDENT AND INJURY COMPLAINTS MOUNT, "INSIDE EDITION" REPORTS

NEW YORK, N.Y., November 7, 1996 . . .
Antilock brakes are supposed to help you stop in time without losing control of your vehicle, but thousands of General Motors truck owners believe the high-tech safety device helped them get into accidents, INSIDE EDITION reports Monday, November 11th.



Dan and Debra Schaefer blame
faulty antilock brakes for an accident
that demolished their Suburban

A flood of driver complaints about the ABS has forced federal safety officials to launch two investigations involving some two million GM trucks. Some of these drivers tell their harrowing stories of crashes and near-misses in the reports, which questions how the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) dealt with the alleged problem when it first learned of it more than four years ago.

One GM customer, Harry Whittelsey of Huntington Bay, NY, recalls how he hit the brakes on his Chevy truck but slammed into the back of a Cadillac anyway. "I might as well have put my foot out the window," he tells INSIDE EDITION investigative reporter Mark Sauter. His truck, he says, "didn't slow down, it didn't make a reaction."

The nationally-syndicated newsmagazine's two-month investigation specifically focuses on 1992-1996 Suburbans and 1991-1994 Chevy Blazers, GMC Jimmy's, S-10 Pickups and Oldsmobile Bravadas equipped with antilock systems made by the Varity Kelsy-Hayes Company.

As Sauter reports, the government and GM records show more than 7,000 drivers have complained about the brakes. These complaints include reports of 2000 accidents and nearly 600 injuries.

NHTSA was alerted to the ABS problem as early as 1992, the report says, and the agency investigated brakes on Chevy Suburbans in early 1993. But it found that there was no safety defect.

Because complaints continued to mount. INSIDE EDITION reports that two new investigations have been opened. But Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety, tells Sauter he isn't satisfied. It's time for the government to "order a recall," he says.

The NHTSA, GM and Varity Kelsey-Hayes all refused requests for on-camera interviews. Both GM and Varity Kelsey-Hayes say the brakes on the vehicles in question are safe and meet all federal safety standards. They also say they're "cooperating fully" with the government's on-going investigations.


RELATED WEBSITES

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

General Motors Corporation