Dt: contact stated rear cradle bolts and retainers rusted and disconnected the steering while they were driving. Contact noticed this around june. Was at a stop sign and started to make a right hand turn and noticed there was no steering. Dealer said that cradle bolts rusted and fixed it. Gm stated consumer's vehicle was not included in recall 97v058000 due to VIN although it had the same failure as mentioned in the recall.
Oldsmobile Silhouette power steering loss problems
19 of the 950 owner complaints about the Oldsmobile Silhouette describe loss of power steering, most of them for the 1997 model year.
- owner complaints
- 19
- worst model year
- 1997
Is there a fix? There are 2 recalls for this area of the car. See below
By model year
Often reported together
What owners say
Driving down the road came to a stop sign, made a right hand turn tried to straighten the wheels out. The steering wheel just kept spinning around and around. Was able to manuever the vehicle to the side of the road. Failure was: the rear cradle bolts through the retainers due to corrosion of the retainer and the rear cradle dropped down and caused the steering shaft to disconnect from the steering gear. Therefor the car would no longer steer. We ave a four year old and a six year and had we been going 50 MPH this could had been a serious catastrophe. I called gm and informed them of this problem and asked if there were any recalls on this, they said no but took the information and would keep it on record in case there are more occurances of this situation. I then went to the computer and checked the federal safety agency recall information, and found that there there was one on the 1990 pontiac grand prix and minivans. We have the oldesmobile equivalent of the pontiac transport. The recall date was 4/8/1997, the vehicle component affected is the structure and the federal safety agency recall number is 97v058000. I then called gm back with this information, because the pontiac transport that was recalled is the same vehicle as the oldesmobile silhouette that I am driving. They said that because its an olds and not a pontiac it would not be covered under the recall, even though they are identical vehicles. One additional concern, is that there may be many other simnilar oldsmobile silhouette and chevrolet lumina vans that could experience these same malfunctions. If this shold happen to someone at higher speeds and with the total loss of steering when this structure breaks loose could be disasterous for the person driving the vehicle and its passengers as well as any oncoming vehicles. I would like this investigated and feel strongly that these other gm models should also be recalled.
While driving at 65 MPH vehicle suddenly lost power steering. Consumer was able to maintain control of the vehicle, and pulled off the road. Vehicle was towed to dealership. A bearing blew through the lower casing, resulting in loss of power fluid. The power steering rack was repaired. This failure occurred because of the defect described in recall 02v286000 concerning power steering assembly. However, this vehicle was not included in the recall due to VIN.
While in reverse and without any indication vehicle lost steering power. Consumer turned vehicle off. Then, restarted vehicle and steering operated normally.
While driving at highway speeds, driver lost control of the vehicle due to a defective steering shaft. Dealer has replaced steering shaft. *ak consumer had no steering, however was able to get the vehicle off of the road safely into a ditch.
Rel. Claims: 731603, 848089, 870477, 871178, 890098 steering fails when going through puddle at any speed, even 20 MPH. I barely missed hitting someone. I have never seen anything like this in my 20 years of driving. Is their patch or fix available since this was first found out almost three years ago? This problem creates a dangerous loss of steering control on wet roadways. Please advise [email protected].
During wet road/weather conditions power assisted steering failed. Dealership installed a water deflector plate to prevent water from contacting power steering belt. However, while traveling at approximately 25 to 30 MPH in a rain storm, power steering failed, and belt for alternator slipped which caused light for battery on the dash board to come on. Dealership has been contacted, and owner was informed that nothing could be done for this problem. *ak the dealer indicated that the wet conditions caused a belt to slip from the alternator and disabled the alternator.
When driving thru puddles during rain, water splashes on the serpentine accessory drive belt , causing the power steering pump pulley to slip and loss of steering control. The service manager a the dealership where I bought the van said there was no way to tighten the belt. This has happened four times and luckely the speed has been slow and the steering came back after a few seconds.
Frame separated from vehicle while driving, pulling the steering shaft out, resulting in loss of steering. Dealer has been notified.
When traveling 35 MPH the h frame, which is attached to the main frame, washer and nuts rusted out, causing complete loss of steering control. Consumer has contacted the dealer, dealer has replaced parts. Please provide any further details.
Related recalls
Steering: rack and pinion
- What is wrong
- Certain passenger vehicles and mini vans have lower pinion bearings in the power rack and pinion assembly in which the retainer tabs were not crimped properly. These and some other retainers used in vehicles assembled between january 1, 1996 and october 31, 1997, could fail and permit the ball bearings to escape.
- Risk
- If this occurs, the pinion shaft can be forced upward during left turns and back down as the steering wheel is moved back and to the right. If the pinion shaft moves further, the driver will need to exert more effort to turn the steering wheel, similar to a vehicle without power assisted steering. If the pinion shaft moves even further, the driver will require much higher effort to turn left and may not be able to turn the wheel as much as intended. With the maximum pinion shaft movement, which requires internal gear component damage, the driver can encounter high resistance to turning left, followed by unintended power assist to the right. In any of these conditions, a crash could occur.
- Remedy
- Dealers will install a new lower pinion bearing unless inspect of the existing bearing indicates that replacement of the gear assembly is necessary. Owner notification began january 24, 2003. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact chevrolet at 1‑800‑222‑1020, pontiac at 1‑800‑762‑2737, or oldsmobile at 1‑800‑442‑6537.
Recall number 02V286000 · Recall details
Steering: gear box: shaft sector
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: passenger mini vans. The left and/or right front lower insulator to cradle center metal sleeve is collapsed, which can result in loss of clamp load in the joint. If the clamp load is reduced or lost, the bolt can be lost or broken and the joint can separate.
- Risk
- If not repaired, separation of the opposite side joint could occur resulting in steering shaft separation.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the left and right front lower cradle-to-suspension insulators and the attaching bolts.
Recall number 99V071000 · Recall details
Questions about the Oldsmobile Silhouette power steering loss
Which Oldsmobile Silhouette years have loss of power steering problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1997 (6 complaints), 1998 (6 complaints) and 1991 (4 complaints).
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