The National Highway Traffic Administration is investigating 60,000 2014 Chevrolet Impala sedans after a report was filed saying the emergency braking system malfunctioned and has been linked to a crash, The Detroit News reports.
According to the filed complaint, the driver “alleges that the driver assist system inappropriately activated emergency braking bringing the vehicle to a complete stop under what the driver considered to be full braking force.”
The incident occurred on March 11 in a rental Impala with 2,500 miles on the odometer. There was no police report filed and no injuries connected to the incident. The dealer and GM were notified of the complaint.
The official complaint stated the driver experienced the malfunctioning braking system more than once. In one incident, while travelling about 40 mph, the driver “heard 3 to 4 beeps from the forward collision avoidance system. This was immediately followed by an autonomous brake activation resulting in their vehicle being struck from the rear by another vehicle.”
GM spokesperson Alan Adler said the company is cooperating with the NHTSA’s preliminary investigation. We’ll keep you updated as the story develops.
Comments
Note this has only been seen in this one car and no others.
Also note there was no police report either so there is no expert observation of the accident.
This is just more media overkill.
In a “rental” car driving like he was lost got rear ended so blamed it on the new technology. No one to prove or disprove any of the story. Like Scott says media grabbing at straws to put out more BS trying to give GM another public “black eye”. This is my take on it anyway.
The first two commenters will have you believe NHTSA has time to investigate any bogus complaint. They actually only show up for issues that have merit and where there is smoke there is fire.
The real two issues are these:
1. Cars are too automated. The obese American, after forgetting how to shift a stick, now doesn’t even have to put his pudgy foot on the brake pedal!?
2. GM needs to stay away from big boy technology because they don’t have the quality to keep it from becoming a nuisance (I recall a brand new Camaro still at the dealer with 8 mi on the odo flashing its traction control service warning).
magirus
It is better you not post and possibly appear ignorant than to post and remove all doubt.
All these complaints are turned in and they are all looked at. Just in 98% of these cases they are never reported in the media because they are lacking results or anything concrete to go any farther with them.
In this case the words GM could be used and they are desperate for another story to draw attention. To make the story appear creditable they have to leave out some important details and the fact that this could even be a bogus report.
GM technology and patents speak for themselves. It only took the Germans 20 year after GM to discover HUD.
So GM won 8 of the 21 categories from JDPowers in their 3 year old vehicle quality test and GM doesn’t have the quality to keep up with the big boys?
Magirus the idiot has spoken.
Right now the NHTSA will investigate anything on GM to prove they have the correct systems in place after the ignition switch debacle. Our local newspaper reported a BMW SUV crashed into a building yesterday and the driver said he had complete brake failure. It is a 4 mth old vehicle. I guess BMW doesn’t have the quality either. I bet the NHTSA doesn’t investigate BMW, now will they.
It’s hard to believe there are so Many ignorant people in this country. I have over thirty years working at a family owned GM Dealership. The GM of this new Century has without a doubt the FINEST most technically advanced and HIGH QUALITY vehicles ever designed and produced by ANY Automobile manufacturer. as evidenced by not only JD Power, Car & Driver,Motor Trend just to name a few. Have any of you ever driven an automobile with the Braking feature that supposedly caused this person driving a rental car to be rear ended ? I doubt it because it’s a fairly new technology that showed up on much more expensive luxury vehicles just a few years ago. It has several different names Like, Laser Cruise Control, Distronic (Mercedes Benz) Adaptive Cruise Control (GM) Well I have driven several cars equipped with this feature including a GM product,a Mercedes product and a Infiniti Product and let me tell you all it can be a bit unnerving to use it like when a vehicle cut’s you off & all of a sudden the brakes slam on quite hard with ZERO input from the driver, it takes getting used to until you realize it’s benefits and really start to enjoy it. I think the rental driver more then likely was not the sharpest nail in the box and he was surprised & confused by the brakes application with no action taken on his part. Especially if he was driving somewhat aggressively as he approached traffic in front of him at a moderate to high rate of speed. I mean come on people if there really was some Issue with this new feature would we not have seen it happen many more times then 1 time with a driver who was more then likely not properly trained on the proper operation of this fine award winning 2014 Chevrolet Impala ?
Just Saying
Odds are this guy was tailgating and had someone behind tailgating and one stopped and the other did not.
I think we should reserve judgment until the investigation is complete.
I don’t want to blame GM but I also don’t want to be so much of an uber groupie that I wrongly blame the victim of this person is honestly a victim.
The media is having a field day blaming GM, and with the exception of Cobalt, it’s all hype. Now I understand how Toyota felt.