Feds investigating 80,000 older Ford, GM vehicles for rust issues

[67impss]

• By David Shepardson
  
• Detroit News Washington Bureau
  
• 7 Comments
  

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday it has opened investigations into rust issues on older vans and minivans built by General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co.

The NHTSA said in documents posted on its website that it had opened preliminary investigations into 17,165 2003 Chevrolet Express vans over fuel leaks and into 63,000 2004 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans over severe corrosion in rear wheel wells.

The GM probe is focused on Express vans with a left-hand door behind the door. The fuel filter pipe might corrode and leak fuel, the NHTSA said. The agency said it has received five complaints from "salt-belt" states — areas that use road salt during winter months — over rust issues on Express vans.

The NHTSA said in the Express vans under investigation, the fuel filler pipe is farther back than on vans not equipped with a left-side passenger door. As a result, the filler pipe routes through the rear wheel well, which exposes the filler pipe to road debris and water spray by the rear tire

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20111227/AUTO01/112270382/1148/auto01/Feds-investigating-80-000-older-Ford-GM-vehicles-rust-issues

And yet frames can rust out W/O a recall

[Drew Dowdell]

The Windstar is quickly turning into that drunk night years ago that Ford wishes it never had. Wasn't it about this time last year when the entire rear axle was recalled for rusting off?

[67impss]

Oooooogh I missed that one

[CanadianBacon94]

The Windstar is quickly turning into that drunk night years ago that Ford wishes it never had. Wasn't it about this time last year when the entire rear axle was recalled for rusting off?

i Co-op'd at a ford dealership at the same time as those vans were coming in, one mechanic there had his axle completely snap in half before the recall came in and if i remember correctly he had to buy a new axle, and then the recall came in later, and many of the ones i saw were cracking.

[wildmanjoe]

Fortunately, how the Freestars were made has been recorded for posterity. Let's see if we can see where Ford went wrong:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRW7TDUpMqo

[Robert Hall]

Interesting..at the beginning of the video, looks like a scale model Freestar..maybe a one off made for the video, never seen a diecast of one..

[hyperv6]

This is only one of several GM cars with rusting fuel fillers. The W bodies are well known for it too. There is even a company that is making a replacment tube that will not rust. I suspect ti may end up on the investigation list too at some point.

We have a local auto salvage company here that works with many of the automakers to make many of their past sins go away. They had row after row of Windstars Ford bought back. My buddy works for them and sends me pictures of a salvaged car with many of the MFG sins in the background.

One that I found interesting was a great number of new Toyota pickups stacked two high as far as you could see. Ther looked to be 50 to 100 in the photo. They even had the window stickers still on them. They were all to be crushed with no salvage.

[Robert Hall]

What's up w/ the rusting fuel fillers? General cheap-assery on parts sourcing?

Edited December 30, 2011 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[hyperv6]

What's up w/ the rusting fuel fillers? General cheap-assery on parts sourcing?

Cheap coated metals.

Also GM cars from the late 90's had a lot of issues with rear fuel lines and brake line. The cars would not be too rusty but the brake fuel lines fail. The OE stainless exhaust would be fine but the brake or fuel line would rust right in half.

My Moms Buick looked good but all the fuel and brake lines were getting pretty crusty. I had to replace the rear brake line before we sold it. It blew out one day.

My Buddies W body olds has a leak in it's gas filler and my 04 GTP is not leaking but it has rust scale starting. My GTP is clean other wise. His Olds looks good but the rockers are rusting out.

Edited December 30, 2011 by hyperv6