Bee Investigative Report: Wheels are falling off Hummers
Complaints spur U.S. safety engineers to probe H2 models.
By Andrew McIntosh -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Friday, July 21, 2006
Story appeared on Page A1 of The Bee


A wheel fell off a Hummer H2 being test-driven by Bee auto editor Mark Glover in 2002.
Sacramento Bee file, 2002/Jay Mather


Iris Ziroli's new beast seemed invincible: It could haul a trailer with 6,700 pounds of cargo, climb slopes at a 60-degree angle and zoom through water 20 inches deep without flinching. Or at least, that's what the pamphlets from her Southern California Hummer dealer promised.
That's why the Murrieta real estate agent was so bewildered when the front end of her pewter-colored Hummer H2 sport-utility vehicle collapsed in February 2004, not during a wild off-road trek, but after she bumped a post in a Carl's Jr. drive-through.

When it hit the ground, the undercarriage of her vehicle screeched almost as loudly as her 6-month-old daughter riding in a car seat.


"I thought I was so safe because the H2 is so huge and strong," Ziroli said. "The way that Hummer fell apart in that drive-through was uncalled for."
Two years later, federal highway safety investigators are reviewing Ziroli's case and 25 complaints like it about Hummer H2s, according to government documents. Their review includes 20 cases involving 2003 model year vehicles, like Ziroli's.

Engineers at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration are studying how a part called a steering knuckle fractured or failed in the incidents, causing H2 suspensions to collapse or their wheels to separate.

General Motors denies there is a safety problem with the metal part, which holds the steering arms in place near the front tires. It says that knuckle-related collapses and wheel separation incidents are a consequence -- not a cause -- of H2 crashes and collisions.


Part changed in 2003
But in June 2003, the automaker changed the steering knuckle part starting with model year 2004. The older part remains in the 47,900 model year 2003s.
The change was made not because there was a problem with the part, according to GM product safety spokesman Alan Adler, but because GM always wants to "improve its products."

NHTSA engineers also have gathered data about 61 steering knuckle failures on three-quarter-ton GM Suburban and Avalanche pickup trucks that used the same part, according to documents the company submitted to the government as part of the safety probe.

Such probes can be precursors to recalls. NHTSA investigator Peter Kivett said he is trying to work with GM to pinpoint the cause of the failures.

"We re building a case, but GM is pushing back pretty hard," Kivett said.

A smaller, more luxurious version of the military Humvee, the H2s went on sale in late 2002 and quickly became beloved to a select group of affluent urban owners. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to own one.

Assembled at a plant in Indiana, their base price is $53,800. More than 113,000 have been sold.

Gay Kent, GM's product investigation director, declined an interview request. In a written reply to NHTSA investigators, Kent argued that the volume of the H2 steering knuckle failures and wheel separations was "extremely low."

"Steering knuckles do not fracture unless they are overloaded in an impact," her report states.

That's not the way Jonathan Barksdale of Chester, Pa., remembers it. Barksdale bought an H2 from a Delaware dealer for $64,000 on Dec. 3, 2003.

Eight days later, with 381 miles on his odometer, according to documents filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia County, "suddenly and without warning, the right front wheel of the vehicle flew off."

Then there was Arsen Khachatryan, a South Carolina man who complained to the NHTSA's safety hotline in July 2004 that he and his brother "nearly died" in their mother's 2

 

this is ancient news. i talked with the original Bee reporter when i had my front hub replaced. it all goes back to a snapped tie rod and continued driving, or attempted driving. when an idiot tries to turn the wheel when it's up against a curb or other immovable object, something has to give. as the weak point, it's the tie rod. i also talked with one of the NHTSA investigators about it around the same time. all instances were during low speed driving, and most were after abusive driving. just another attempt to trash the vehicle.

 

I had my right front wheel fall off of my 1981 Chevy X11 many, many years back. I took it into the Chevy dealer multiple times telling them that I often hear a "clunk" from the right front. They could not find anything wrong. Then one day while making a slow left turn, the whole damn thing fell off. Apparently, as they explained it to me, the lower ball joint fit into what I guess would have been the steering knuckle, and there was a bolt that squeezed the one part to the other. As they had explained, for some reason the slotted hole that the ball joint fit up into was out of round. I was just a kid back then, so I thought it was kinda funny and actually glad that I found out where the "clunk" was coming from.

 

Just another way to apply negitive attention[sm=bs.gif][sm=loser.gif]

 

I maybe wrong, but it looks as if that Hummer was struck by another vehicle, look at the marking on the front quarter......theres some nice red paint and the side marker is almost destroyed lol.....


BK

 

Have they resolved the problem?

 

NHTSA never determined that there was a problem to be fixed. the tie rods are still the size of straws, so nothing changed there.

as for the crushed fender well in the photo, that's what happens when the body falls down on top of the tire.