Serious safety issue - power assist steering momentarily inoperable on 1/13, 3/12, 4/12, 4/14, 5/11, 5/12 (twice) and 5/13. Occurs when driving through water puddles. Dealer attempted to fix with after market belt. Problem is worse now because length of outage is more brief and just when driver added pressure to steer without power assist it started to work causing overcorrection. Vehicle is currently at dealer for scrutiny. On 4/21, automatic sliding door popped open when car gear shift was moved out of park position. This is not supposed to happen. Dealer cleaned contacts and days later the unit broke. Dealer has completed most of repair. Injury to passenger next to door could occur if door were to open while driving.
1997 Oldsmobile Silhouette steering complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 20 of 20, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Upon using the passenger's sliding door and locking the door and consumer putting vehicle into drive, the door will pop open. Also, when driving through some water vehicle will lose power steering.
Steering wheel locked in place after turning. Unable to control the vehicle while in motion.
Driving at approx. 25 MPH on wet roads with rain. Started to slow to turn right onto side street when power steering failed. Driver had to use extreme effort to manually turn steering wheel to avoid hitting curb and tree. Driver was able to correct car direction with extreme effort while stopping car. Once the car was stopped, there was a squealing noise ,indicating belts were slipping and there was an additional clicking/tapping sound. Gm case number is 990028165. Problem 2: automatic door on passenger's side disengaged when placing shift lever from park. Dealer cleaned contacts and stated problem was solved. Explanation does not seem reasonable in that the door closed properly until the shift lever was placed out of park. Safety features should prevent the door from openning unless shift lever is in park.
While driving vehicle about 30 MPH and when it is raining, consumer could drive over a pothole and lose control due to power steering failure.
Rack pinion steering broke, causing steering wheel to lock up, and no steering ability at all, which may cause an accident.
Steering becomes inoperable momentarily in wet driving conditions at slow speed. Occasionally, when turning while driving in wet conditions a squeal sound such as belts slipping can be heard. Steering becomes difficult when turning from a complete stop. Dealer was advised on two occasions. According to the dealer steering is working and belts are properly adjusted. The most recent incident happened in wet weather while pulling into a street from a driveway. Fortunately no traffic was coming and the driver was able to put the transmission in reverse and return to the driveway. Immediately after the incident, steering appeared to work.
Low fuel warning light.
Overhead computer console failure.
The rack and pinon steering is loose and needs to be tightened. The steering could have been lost unexpectedly in the van.
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