Wheels are falling off Hummer H2s

From today's Sacramento Bee:

Bee Investigative Report: Wheels are falling off Hummers

Complaints spur U.S. safety engineers to probe H2 models

By Andrew McIntosh -- Bee Staff Writer



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.

...more at link above...

Ha. I knew those damned things were junk.

Im betting she NEVER towed anything and it has NEVER seen a dirt road.

What a waste.

Yep. Mr. Hummer salesman told me it would.

Fuckin' Chevy Suburbans with styling by Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Ja, I alvays vanted to be un automobile designer, und all ze right angles are chust like my right-ving philosophies ..."

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

My mom's Nissan Pulsar could get through that pass, but not the "mighty" H2 Compensator...