2006 Pontiac G6 steering problems

What is wrong

General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2006-2007 Chevrolet Malibu and Malibu Maxx vehicles manufactured April 1, 2006, to June 30, 2006, and 2006-2007 Pontiac G6 vehicles manufactured April 18, 2006, to June 30, 2006. In the affected vehicles, there may be a sudden loss of electric power steering (EPS) assist that could occur at any time while driving.

Risk

If power steering assist is lost, greater driver effort would be required to steer the vehicle at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy

GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the torque sensor assembly, free of charge. The recall began February 24, 2015. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1‑800‑222‑1020 or Pontiac customer service at 1‑800‑762‑2737. GM's number for this recall is 14772. Note: This is an expansion of recall 14V‑153 to cover additional vehicles built between April 1, 2006 and June 30, 2006.

Recall number 15V064000 · Recall details

What is wrong

General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2004-2006 and 2008-2009 Chevrolet Malibu, 2004-2006 Malibu Maxx, 2009-2010 HHR (non-turbo), 2010 Cobalt, 2008-2009 Saturn Aura and 2004-2007 Ion, and 2005-2009 Pontiac G6. In the affected vehicles, there may be a sudden loss of electric power steering (EPS) assist that could occur at any time while driving.

Risk

If power steering assist is lost, greater driver effort would be required to steer the vehicle at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy

GM will notify owners, and dealers will perform one of four bulletins. Parts are not currently available. GM expects to send an interim notification around May 28, 2014. When parts are available, owners will be mailed a second letter to come in to have the applicable bulletin applied. Bulletin 14115 covers model year 2004-2007 Saturn Ion, 2009-2010 Chevrolet HHR and 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts. Dealers will replace the EPS motor. Bulletin 14116 covers model year 2004-2006 Chevrolet Malibu and Malibu Maxx, 2005-2006 Pontiac G6 and 2008-2009 Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac G6 and Saturn Aura built from March 1, 2008, through June 27, 2008. Dealers will replace the torque sensor assembly. Bulletin 14117 covers model year 2008 Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac G6 and Saturn Aura built from February 1, 2008, through February 28, 2008. Dealers will replace the torque sensor assembly and EPS motor controller unit. Bulletin 14118 covers model year 2008 Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac G6 and Saturn Aura built from October 1, 2007, through January 31, 2008. Dealers will replace the EPS motor controller unit. The recall began on July 17, 2014. Owners may contact Chevrolet at 1‑800‑630‑2438, Saturn at 1‑800‑553‑6000, and Pontiac at 1‑800‑620‑7668. GM's number for this recall is N140115. Note: GM bulletin number 14119 will be implemented for model year 2006-2008 and early production of 2009 Chevrolet HHR (non-turbo) and model year 2003 Saturn ION to provide EPS Motor replacement for the life of the vehicle.

Recall number 14V153000 · Recall details

During this investigation, general motors (gm) indicated that approximately 15,600 model year (my) 2005 pontiac g6 vehicles built from november 3, 2004 through january 5, 2005 may experience a loss of power steering assist due to an insufficient crimp at the torque and position sensor transducer located in the steering column assembly. Gm has indicated that it plans to send letters to the owners of these vehicles to inform them that it will extend the warranty coverage for the eps system in their vehicles to 7 years or 70,000 miles.statistical analysis of the failures in the population affected by the wiring crimp problem indicate that the problem is an early life failure that should occur within the terms of the extended coverage.gm's investigation of eps failures in the subject vehicles identified a problem with the connector crimps during the two month production range covered by the warranty extension.during this period the crimps may be asymmetrical, resulting ininadequate pressure on the wire that can lead to electrical noise in the signal from the sensor to the controller.the controller may interpret this electrical noise as a malfunction of the system and default to manual mode (I.e., turn off the eps system).if the power steering assist is lost, the driver information center (dic) displays a power steering warning message, a chime is sounded, andthe service vehicle soon light will illuminate.in manual mode the steering requires increased effort, especially at speeds less than 20 miles per hour (MPH).odi's analysis of the failure data show that approximately 30 percent of the complaints and field reports (569 of 1913) involve vehicles built in the range covered by gm's extended policy, which account for only about 7 percent of the subject vehicle population.the complaint rate for the non-peak months is relatively high, at 673 per 100,000 vehicles.the rate for the peak months is 5 times higher at 3,645 per 100,000 vehicles.similar differences are evident in the warranty data, with approximately 27 percent of the eps warranty claims (1120 of 4145) involving vehicles built in the peak months.the warranty rate for the non-peak months is 1.5% and the rate for the peak months is 7.2%.odi identified 9 crashes that are potentially related to eps system failure in the subject vehicles.the crashes occurred at low speeds, such as driveway and parking lot type maneuvers.the crashes resulted in one alleged injury, but odi was unable to obtain information about the type or severity of the injury.none of the crashes involve vehicles built in the two month period covered by gm's extended warranty coverage.the subject vehicles use the same eps system as the my 2004 chevrolet malibu vehicles investigated by odi in ea04-018.although the failure rates are high in this investigation, particularly for the peak months, they are significantly lower than for the malibu vehicles investigated in ea04-018.as in those vehicles, the effects on steering effort are small at speeds greater than 15-20 MPH.accordingly, this investigation is closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will continue to monitor complaints and information relating to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles and take further action in the future if warranted.

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