Trying to get GM to buy out lease for repeated issues!

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MBPdx

Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2016
Messages
7
Location
Portland, OR
Hi,

I have a 2014 Spark EV with only 12,790 miles on it that I leased brand new. I have about 8 months left on the lease.

I was driving my Spark EV to the dealer for them to fix the non-functioning heat, the airbag pretensioner recall, and failure to fast-charge (again!). I was traveling straight at about 25 MPH on a residential street. When the car in front of me stopped I tried to stop but the brake pedal went to the floor and the car failed to stop. In an instant I checked to be sure I wasn't pressing the accelerator, then pushed with all my might even harder on the brake pedal. The car eventually stopped but only after coming within an inch of the car in front of me.

My car sounded a warning "ding," and the dash illuminated the Service Light, the Stabilitrak Light, and the Parking Brake light, and the message in the middle of the display said "Service Stabilitrak Module." See attached image for what was displayed.

I put the car into Low and moved it into the parking strip. It was still incredibly difficult to stop. I power cycled the car and within 5 seconds of starting up the same error was displayed and the brake pedal was nearly useless. I called the dealer and they told me to call Chevy Roadside assistance. They had me wait 90 minutes in the cold with a car with no heat for the tow truck to arrive.

I was only a few blocks from where I would have been getting on the freeway. If this had happened on the freeway then it is probable that serious injury or death would have resulted.

I have had other brake issues with this car before. Last year the electronic parking brake was failing to release on only one wheel, which would become evident at highway speeds when the car would start shaking violently and one rear wheel would get very hot. It took 3-4 visits for the dealer to repair it, mostly because they didn't believe me the first few visits even though they said they could see the color change on one of the rotors. They only believed me after I started having issues with DCFC'ing not working. When they finally looked into that they discovered the fast charge module was dependent on the parking brake module and they weren't working together properly.

I called Chevrolet to get them to buy out my lease. They said the dealer has to do that. I called the dealer and he said GM has to do that, but that if I sent him an e-mail he'd forward it to them.

Anyone have any luck getting their lease bought out? My next step is a consumer protection lawyer. I am kicking myself for not invoking our state's lemon law with the parking brake issue last year, since the law is only good for 2 years after purchase.

Thanks!
 
It sounds like the EV tech at your local dealership is a turkey.
You never know.. Some of these guys drew the short straw and had to go to Volt/Spark EV training,,, whatever that is.
And then if their fishing expedition doesn't fix the EV do they call the Mother Ship for Tech Support? Or do they think that is a sign of weakness???

I don't know how Lemon Laws work with a lease.
I did get a GM Buy-Back on my Volt because the local yokals kept putting off working on my Volt. And I encouraged it! "No hurry. I'm driving a loaner Volt. Take your time. Get it right."
And boy they did take their time.
My state lemon law was 30 days in the shop in the first year for the same problem.

But then I got to buy a used 'Buy-Back' Spark EV at a good price!!!
I don't believe in 'Lemons' as such. Cars are just a bunch of nuts and bolts and a big ass battery in this case.
The documents said "Due to customer satisfaction". It has never done anything weird on me, except the climate control pop-down header locking up rarely. But a reboot always fixes that.

I'd buy a dash cam and keep it pointed on you, the road and the pedals, if you can. And remember the 'Squeaky Wheel' !

Good luck.
 
Oh we need to talk! Our first Chevy Spark EV (2015)'s brakes went out 3 times beginning at about 7K and last time at about 15K. Each time the dealer said they "fixed" it but didn't really know what they problem was (they just replaced a bunch of parts). They said our vehicle was the first they had seen with this problem. After the 3rd time, we were done and we had Chevy repurchase the vehicle (otherwise we would have gone through the DMV with the Lemon Law). This was just back in December 2016.

In Oregon at least (each state is different), you have to give the dealer one chance to fix the problem (the same problem) if it's an issue related to safety (3 if not safety-related). So, you would need another brake failure for Chevy to repurchase the vehicle. Unbelievable, I know.

Get this, by the time our Spark EV was repurchased by Chevy, there were no more Chevy Spark EVs available within a 500 miles of us. So we assumed the lease of a 2016 Chevy Spark EV from a private party about a month ago. After driving just a few miles, the brakes have gone out again! We are done, done, done with Chevy Spark EV's. One can only be so lucky - 4 times of brake failure with kids in the car and no one was seriously injured. We tried to get the second car repurchased by Chevy considering our last vehicle but they said there had to be two instances of brake failure (they could not consider the history of our previous Spark). Unbelievable.

Interestingly, when we had the vehicle towed on Monday (1/9/17), the tow truck told us he had just towed several vehicles with the same issue to the same dealership. So many we aren't just super lucky to get two lemon sparks. It sounds like this might be a larger defect in the car.

At this point we are left with the legal system. I've been in contact with a lawyer that said a class action suit would be the right course of action but it makes it challenging that there aren't many people posting online with the issue. I'll find out more next week. Can you post your brake issue work order from the dealership on this site? https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

If there isn't a trail online it makes it much more challenging to get this resolved. I'll also be posting on the main forum to see if there are any other people with the same issue. I've just found another person in my neighborhood coincidentally. Let's keep in touch!
 
Are you in Oregon? I'm in Oregon! In Portland? Is your dealer Wentworth?

I found 7 other failures on the NHTSA's website. Please be sure to report yours! Mine is up there now.

Also, I found this terrifying video of brake failure of a Spark - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8oDB66k-48 - you can tell the brakes are depressed because the brake lights are on until impact. Note that GM told the driver it was due to her driving.

So my feeling is also that the parking brake issue alone should be a buy-back issue. It is unacceptable for my car to start violently shaking at highway speeds because the parking brake fails to release, and I've been in 4-5 times for that alone, with no resolution.
 
Also could you please post here or PM me the name of the lawyer or law firm? That should be out there so that people can contact them.

Just spoke with GM Customer Service and the District Manager says that because they were never able to replicate my parking brake issue and that the main brake failure issue was just due to software there's nothing they can do.
 
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