Tailgate fell off my GM pick up!

[davidz71]

My son is home from college on spring break this week and had a bad experience this evening. While driving my 2500hd he went over a bump, the tailgate latch apparently opened and the tailgate fell open. It broke the passenger side cable, fell off and was dragging on the road. It swung over to the driver's side and scrapped about 8" of paint off the side of the truck lower quarterpanel not to mention about 12" off one side of the tailgate.

I'm still seeing red! Do you think this would be covered under warranty or road hazzard or what? I've also heard there is a lawsuit against GM concerning the cables and after looking on that cable I can understand why. It sure was thin.

[qqq]

I found the tailgate cables on a y2k Silverado to be very tough!
They help carry the weight of my slide in camper (9.5 camper on shortbed truck...) never broke yet...

Hart

[Pick]

David, this has been an ongoing complaint with GM pickups on other forums. I was hauling some buckets of sand for our 30th class reunion and the fellow that was providing them, brought them over to the truck with a tractor w/front end loader. He lowered the bucket on the gate and broke both cables.

On The Diesel Place Forum on of the forum members is manufacturing the old style tailgate straps, from flat stock. You may have to do some poking around on that site to find it though.

[j54mark]

There is apparently a NTSB investigation into accidents relating to broken tailgate cables on GM trucks.

Meanwhile, I personally would expect full warrenty coverage on two counts: 1) The failure of the latch, and 2) failure of the cable.

Mark

[john hd]

craig

had both of mine break when i was loading my bike!

upon close inspection i found the cables to be rusted under the vinyl covering.

when i purchased new ones, the replacement cables had silicone or something similar inserted in the end of the cable ferrules to prevent water entering the cable assemblys.

so they know there is a problem and have tried to fix it.

word to the wise, if there are any bulges in the vinyl coverings they are about to let go!

if anyone can find the retro fit straps let us know!

until i get something better the tailgate will come off before loading anything heavy!

john

[ALANSD]

after some years of working for car dealerships, my opinion is warranty probably would not cover, however the dealer might help you under his allotment for "policy", where he can use his disgression to assist owners. Also if they aren't helpful, the area service rep from GM can do a similiar thing and use discretionary funds to cover some of the cost. Enough complaining to the right people done in the right way might bring a better conclusion.
Wish you luck with it.

[davidz71]

Is this what you mean? www.vrstraps.com

[Tin Hut]

Last year the transmission on my '97 Suburban went out with only 46,000 miles (non-towing) on it. It had been serviced regularly and babied since we got it new. The dealer was unwilling to negotiate even though they agreed it was a "premature" failure. I contacted the General Motors service rep and documented by concern. They requested docs, receipts etc. and after 4 months and several very cooperative emails I received a check for 40% of the $2,225 cost to replace the tranny. I'd list all costs including repair/painting cost due to the damage and see what they can do for you. Good luck

[Silvertwinkie]

Recall on the tailgate cables as found via CNN today:

http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/18/pf/a...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Eric

[uncleneal]

I've already bought new cables to replace the broken ones on my 2001 Z-71, and had to have the 4th gear clutches replaced in the trans at about 48K. The dealer split the cost of the trans work with me. (Half of $800 - If it goes out again, I'm going to trade it or put a stick in it.) I wonder if GM is going to give refunds to those of us who have replaced the cables.

I noticed that the guy who makes the flat bar replacements makes you sign a statment of absolutely no warranty, no liability and no lawsuits.

Neal

[85MH325]

Originally posted by john hd
craig

had both of mine break when i was loading my bike!

until i get something better the tailgate will come off before loading anything heavy!

john

I can attest to this one! Scared the h*ll out of us! Nothing quite like a Harley teetering above you on an apparently broken tailgate to get the adrenaline goin', eh John!

I LIKE your tailgate-off plan! We'll PLAN on doing that this year in Davenport!

Roger

[john hd]

roger

nothing makes it more fun than doing it in a downpour!

john

[pyanke]

Gm has announced a recall for the tailgate cables. Owners will be notified. Seems they rust and the tailgate falls off.

[john hd]

The company said if the cables are corroded, they may fracture when loads are applied to the tailgate. Any customer who has a cable break should notify their dealer immediately

guess i'll be calling my dealer

john

[53flyingcloud]

For those with GMC truck issues and, other recall...
GMC Trucks and etc

This would be a nice feature to have on the home page:
For example, on the sidebars..

ciao
53FC

[Deppdog]

A great source of recall & technical service bulletin information is www.alldata.com/recalls/index.html. You can look up by year, make, model and see all the tsb (subject only) & recall information for your vehicle. It gives you some ammo when you go into the dealership if you can cite the exact tsb number.

Good luck to everyone with the tailgate issue!

[Deppdog]

That link I put out there doesn't seem to work. Just go to www.alldata.com and use the tab for recalls & tsb at the top of the page. I like to check it once in a while just to see how my trucks are doing...

[RivetED]

I guess we got lucky when we traded our '00 1500 Silverado for the '03 F-250. Talk about needing a rock guard for the A/S, imagine the dent a flying tail-gate would put in the aluminum!!

[uncleneal]

Deppdog,

The link doesn't work because of the period at the end. If you remove it, the link will work. It's a common problem with puting links in e-mails and such.


www.alldata.com/recalls/index.html


Neal

[Morning Dew]

this entire ordeal sounds almost unreal. the cables on my dodge are VERY strong. my friend has a brand new duramax and his entire tailgate assembly looks undersized. my tailgate takes an adult to close because its solid steal(or at least feels that way) while his you can close with your fingers.