The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received two complaints from C8 Corvette owners alleging the sports car’s hood, or “frunk”, opened while the vehicle was in motion.
As first reported by Corvette Blogger, NHTSA has only received two complaints regarding the C8 Corvette thus far and both pertain to the hood opening while driving. One of the complaints said the hood popped open as they were driving along at roughly 25-30 mph, which caused damage to the hood hinges and front fenders.
“I turned onto the main road (a US-designated HWY) and accelerated,” the complaint said. “When I reached a speed of approximately 25 to 30 mph, the front hood (also called a frunk), flew up and completely blocked my vision of the roadway. “I was able to successfully brake and pull to the shoulder of the highway without further incident.”
“The ‘frunk’ hood completely blocked my vision of the roadway and damage was done to the hinges, hood and fender on the driver’s side,” the person added.
The person who filed the second complaint recalled a similar experience and also said the problem was due to the lack of a secondary hand-operated latch.
“They failed to engineer the appropriate safety latch features into the hood that would prevent this from happening,” the person said. “Hoods are required to have a secondary latch that must be physically operated to open completely.”
All previous Corvette models were hinged at the front and opened forward, leaving very little possibility that the hood would open while the vehicle is in motion. The C8 Corvette, by comparison, is hinged in a more traditional spot near the windshield on either side in order to provide easier access to the front storage area. Corvette engineers may not have designed a robust enough front latch, or some vehicles may be defective, but it’s difficult to say without a full NHTSA investigation.
A YouTuber also uploaded a video showing the hood on their C8 Corvette opening while driving. Similar to the NHTSA complaint, the hood opens at relatively low speed. The YouTube user also said this incident caused “a fair amount of damage,” including to the hinges and hinge attachment points, along with paint scratches on the hood and on both fenders. They said there was no warning before this happened and no audible alarm to warn them that the hood had popped loose.
Check out the video below and feel free to share any personal experiences with the C8 Corvette’s hood opening in the comments.
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Comments
Way to go GM!
More quality from your friends at General Motors
Lets create a rear opening frunk on the next round of production. Not sure why we had a front opening frunk on a car that runs 200 mph……not to mention out of tradition with the car whether the engine is in the back (love this) or not.
I’m still driving my C7 and waiting for active aero on the Z06 or Zora, etc. Hopefully completed by late 2021, 22 and the frunk is a deciding factor on how long I wait.
A friend had the same thing happen to his. He though he left it open after a show. Maybe not. 5K plus transportation. I’m ordering one and hope they find a fix.
Hard to believe there is no secondary latch or hood open message like most other GM vehicles
There’s a difference between “spontaneous” and “accidental’ opening of the Frunk. IMHO this kinda falls within the same group of the folks that are members of the “flying roof society”. If things are not properly latched by the operator, it must be someone else’s fault right? If properly latched down hoods/frunks /roofs that fly off spontaneously are indeed the fault of the manufacturer, if not properly latched, own it and don’t blame the auto maker. JMHO.
Sometimes when I was out late at Studio 54 I would leave my frunk open. AND the ladies could see all the junk in my frunk. No, it was NOT a pretty picture but when you’re a celebrity AND a president, they let you do whatever you want – even Ivanka!!!
GM tried to be too smart and re-create the wheel. No car needs an electrical hood or frunk opener. The old two step mechanical system was just fine. Replace the new system with an cable pull and a safety latch and call it a lesson learned.
LOL, so the accounting department was too cheap to include a frunk is ajar sensor?! I bet they spent the budget trying to engineer something clever…oops didn’t work. My Jeep Wrangler has one at half the price.
If you think that GM won’t have this figured out and fixed before the virtual ink dries, think again all you GM haters.
The next dealer installed item will be hood pins!
I noticed it open when I returned to the car. I had been active climbing on machinery with the Fob in my pocket. I had backed the car into parking spot, so I saw it open when approaching it. Happened again, so I am aware of this and believe its not a latch problem, but issue with the Fob being activated unintentionally. Just my thought.
Robert G. — You have so hit the nail on the head that the nail has been driven all the way into the plank with one blow. That of course is the answer: “…but issue with the Fob being activated unintentionally.” I mentioned noticing that on at least one occasion the Fob in my pocket opened the rear trunk by pressing on something in my pocket. Another time, I accidentally, while at the rear of the car, attempting to open the rear without looking at the Fob, opened the frunk by mistake while holding a couple of other items; realizing the rear didn’t open, I then used the Fob and hist the correct button and opened the trunk. (once actually to put things into the trunk). Later, I closed the trunk and then walked to the driver’s door, opened it up and got inside. I believe I noticed the warning on the dash and got out again and closed the inadvertently opened frunk and then got in again to drive away. However, if my car had been in certain lighting conditions, I might not have noticed and might have driven away. There are other scenarios that C8 drivers will think about from time to time. This would be very unexpected and something very difficult for any car manufacturer to anticipate. AF
If the fob is that sensitive then they need to make changes to the fob. Like inset the buttons, or have a protective case around it so it doesn’t get pressed while in your pocket.
After GM’s, “fix,” today both the front and rear frunk and hatch opened on their own. I and my wife each had to manually push them down again. Once finally closed for the second time, the frunk gave no further problems. Neither did the hatch. Problem is not fixed. AF