POWER STEERING FLUID LEAKS - FIRES

What NHTSA is examining

General motors (gm) initiated a customer satisfaction campaign in october of 2006 to address a failure of the power steering hose and/or clamps that could occur when the engine is started in vehicles primarily operated in the following states that experience extremely cold temperatures:alaska, maine, minnesota, montana, new hampshire, north dakota, south dakota, vermont, wisconsin and wyoming.at the time this preliminary evaluation (pe) was opened, only 1 of the 33 complaints received by the office of defects investigation (odi) was from a state covered by the customer satisfaction campaign.in response to an information request sent by the odi, gm provided information that included 6 alleged fires and 1 alleged minor crash potentially related to the alleged defect. One of the alleged fires is a duplicate of a report received by odi.of the fire incidents, 2 of the 6 alleged fire incidents occurred after the remedy detailed in the customer satisfaction program was performed.one of the vehicles was totaled as a result of the incident.it is undetermined whether the incidents were related to the alleged defect or were a by product of the repair.of the other four alleged fire incidents, 1 incident involved smoke only and no visible flames.based on the information provided, the remaining 3 fire incidents were localized events that primarily involved damage to the power steering components and surrounding wiring.all 3 of these vehicles were subsequently repaired.none of the alleged…

Vehicles under investigation