2002 Chevrolet Tracker suspension problems

Filed Mar 8, 2017 · Body, Steering · OH

My mother and I was driving on the expressway and it seemed as if the car just lunged forward sharply and made us swerve a little. I pulled over and seen that the car was sitting "off" a little. We towed it home and my step dad looked at it and said the car had rusted through the subframe. The subspension subframe crossmember part could of killed us. She bought this car at 29 miles from dave white cheverolt in 2001. Nothing was sent to us from the manufacture or the dealership about this part being a dangerous part. It was to be replaced I heard if the car reached 150,000 miles or 10 plus years. She had this car for both and was not notified. The dealership will not replace the part. We had it towed this weekend and the dealership will not replace the part for free.

Filed May 11, 2015 · Suspension · 120,000 miles · PA

Front suspension crossmember for chevy trackeris nothing but rust. It won't pass inspection and the garage said there must have not been a coating put on it for it to be rusted through and falling apart.

Filed Oct 17, 2014 · Body, Brakes · 102,000 miles · ME · crash

My chevy tracker has a broken crossmember/subframe/k-frame. Front suspension arms are mounted to this piece, it is the most important mounting point. It completely broke while driving, luckily at a very slow speed, no maj. Injury. Gm knows the bad part was in every tracker/vitara -they say it wasn't treated properly, had no drain holes. There is a bulletin to replace this part (#06186),10 years or 150k miles -which specifies the repair is covered if "displays the condition of" having the defect within that period. Fuller gm dealer agrees "clearly had the problem within the period based upon condition now". I've suffered the run-around between sr rep on the phone, and the local gm dealer. All say "would repair it if the other would". Gm by phone says it's up to the local, local says gm has to authorize repair. They all univ. Agreed with facts: had the problem within the bulletin's definition, yet insist there's no way for them to help, "the period is up" -which is a contradiction! This is an extremely dangerous failure, far worse than the ignition switch recall. In those cases, the car can still function with an aware driver. The tracker failure is catastrophic. Gm says bulletin notice mailed out told owners to check for the "signs" every year, but only sent out one notice -not to the next owners (most manufs send notices for new owners)! Owner of my car who maybe saw the notice died, so we had no warning to check for "signs". Every gm rep says that's their "regrettable policy". Gm and local fuller gm have wasted many hours/weeks of time, directing response. To all others, saying will help and call back, not one has. Gm says "there's no recall because it wasn't a popular vehicle"*! I offered to pay for part, or work, meet halfway, they did not even consider. I want mine repaired +gm to admit responsibility. Please help, thanks! *all quotes actually said by gm.

Filed Jun 26, 2014 · Body, Suspension · 144,000 miles · IA · crash · 1 injury

I was driving on a two-way residential street, just picked up our two youngest grandson's from school, when the passenger side tire jammed, very unexpectedly, up in the area between the engine and frame of the tracker. The tracker went mid air, and then rolled. Consumer handwriting is illegible. .updated 07/02/14

Filed Mar 22, 2014 · Brakes, Suspension · 110,000 miles · OH

Purchased a 2002 chevy tracker on 4/30/2002. We've had some minor and some major repairs made, it's never been in any accidents and has been up-kept. Coming home from work my husband noticed the year old brakes were not working properly, was pulling, and started vibrating and shaking at about 40 MPH. We later noticed the back brake line was leaking. Two weeks to fix by our mechanic. On the test drive noticed vibration much worse- violent-abrupt shaking! Later our mechanic noticed the front suspension cross member is almost rusted out! It has not been repaired yet. I am going to notify manufacturer. Approximate mileage was110,000. Were notifications sent out? Don't remember one- I'm pretty adamant about safety! Always loved this vehicle, now tons of junk medal sitting in the driveway and down a vehicle!

Filed Nov 23, 2013 · Body, Suspension · 85,000 miles · CT

I was driving down the road all of a sudden every time I pressed the brakes my tracker veered to the right into the other land and started to shake tremendously. I could not drive the vehicle with out it constantly shaking. I had it towed to a mechanic who informed me the vehicle suspension cross member bar had rotted out and was completely full of rust. After a full inspection I was told from the mechanic that my car is mechanically sound and there is no other rust anywhere in the vehicle. The mechanic told me about a recall with this part. My 2002 chevy tracker has just over 85000 miles . I contacted the gm dealership and they said because the warranty expired in 2012 there was nothing I could do even though it was well under the mileage limits. I recently inherited this vehicle from my mother in-law who was very sick with cancer. She did not drive the vehicle since january of 2012 due to her being extremely sick. I have all the documents of her vehicle and all her paperwork. She never received a recall for this part. I don't want gm. To fix this since I have my own mechanic but feel they should warranty the part. When I contacted them they said there is no recall on the part just a extended warranty they were offering. After looking at your website I see that there most defiantly was a recall and this vehicle never got fixed . I cant say whether the recall letter got lost in the mail or was never sent. They said the national traffic safety administration does recall not the dealership and there was no recall they were just offering an extended warranty. I just want chevrolet to step up to their end of the bargain. Thank you

Filed Oct 22, 2013 · Body, Suspension · 84,849 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 chevrolet tracker. The contact stated that while having routine maintenance performed, she was advised that all of the cross members were corroded. The technician stated that the bushings, and the front and center cross members needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, who stated that the statute of limitations for their voluntary program mentioned in the federal safety agency action number: ea06018 (suspension) had passed and the vehicle was no longer eligible for repairs. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 84,849. Updated 12/23/13

Filed May 28, 2013 · Body, Engine · 112,000 miles · VT

I was driving to work one night when my right front tire felt like its was going to fall off I slowed down and pulled off on the side of the road could not find out why it was doing this when the tire was fine. So I drove very slowly with my caution lights on to and from work because as long as you did under 40 it didn't feel like that. The next day I had a mechanic take a look at it and he couldn't figure out what was wrong with it until he drove the car and it got up to about 50mph then he pulled over and found the problem which was that the crossmember and lca attachment bracket had rusted so bad it broke free and there was nothing holding the lower arm and tire in place this made me upset because I just had the car inspected four months earlier.and they did not catch this, so we brought it back to the mechanic that inspected it and he bought a new part for it and it was good but it was starting to rusting out on bottom part below the doors and around the tires then just a week or so ago the timing belt broke and that's how I found out about this recall and I want to know why I was not informed of this and as of date 5/28/13 I only have 137,003 mileage on my tracker.

Filed Mar 14, 2013 · Suspension · 79,325 miles · MI

After a year of repairs including muffler system, front sway bar, shifter cable and alternator, I finally got to drive my chevy tracker and noticed immediately a shake (4/12) that night, the oil pan developed a leak. I finally saved up enough to get that fixed in 1/13, I still noticed a shake, but needed to get the brake lines repaired. I did that and still noticed the shake and it was getting worse. Thought the calipers needed to be bled so brought it back to the shop. My repairman noticed that the front arm suspension bracket was rusted through. Did a little investigation on line and discovered the special warranty from chevy regarding this problem and many many complaints from fellow customers. I called chevy on 3/14/13 and was told that my VIN number didn't match the recall. I called my local chevy dealer and was told that the VIN number did match the recall, but I was late because the recall expired in 2012. I just want to know why I wasn't notified as this is a very dangerous situation and chevy was well aware. Had I known, I would have taken care of it right away.

Filed Jan 11, 2011 · Steering, Suspension · 117,004 miles · WV

Tl*the contact owns a 2002 chevrolet tracker. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the contact heard a loud popping noise, when he lost power steering making it difficult to control the vehicle. A private mechanic informed the contact that the cross member of the front suspension was corroded. The dealer was notified and informed the contact that they would be repair the cross member; however, the upper control arm was corroded and the warranty would not cover the procedure. The manufacturer was contacted and advised the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The current and failure mileages were 117,004.