1998 Chevrolet Corvette from Switzerland - Comments

Defect report of a safety and a engineering problem concerning my Corvette C5 bought on june 12th, 1998. No of chassis: 1G1 YY2 2G3 W51 229 86. Miles ~ 20.000 / Km ~ 32.000.

Introduction.

My Corvette C5 suffered from a serious and repeated dysfunction of the acceleration system due, -as reported in numerous other instances- to interferences in the electronic speed control of this vehicle. The consequence have been two crashes due to a sudden unexpected acceleration at full throttle, without any user intervention on the speed control of the vehicle.

Accidents description.

First accident: april 26th, 2002.

I was stopped at the entry of the parking garage where I have a parking spot. As I had the right foot on the footbrake pedal and was preparing to put my magnetic entry card in the reader machine, the engine of my Corvette suddenly raced and the car ploughed ahead at full throttle, although I continuously applied pressure on the brake pedal. The Corvette C5 accelerated forward at a terrific speed. The car stopped only after I quickly applied the parking brake and cut the ignition.

The car was repaired and appraised by the garage which had sold it to me. The head mechanic, assured me my car was in order when I took it back.

The repair expenses (car, gate of entry and automatic garage door) were very high.

In april/mai 2002, I requested that the garage consult a GM expert on that sort of accident. They did not comply with that request.

The dysfunction ocurred once again one year later.

Second accident : may 7th, 2003.

As I parked at the bottom of my property, I had, at the end of this parking maneuver, the right foot on the brake pedal, (to slow the car down which at this time crawled, i.e. advanced without giving gas), when again the engine suddenly and violently accelerated. The Corvette stopped against a tree and the trailer of my daughter's boat, but only after I jammed on the brake and cut the ignition.

Remarks.

At the time of these two accidents, the Corvette suddenly took off on it's own, the throttle in a full open position, without the driver stepping on the accelerator pedal. I was not able to have any kind of control with the foot brake. The brakes were not effective in stopping the car soon enough to avoid the two accidents. Only switching off the ignition was effective to stop the vehicle.

At the time of these two accidents, except for the factory installed, built in radio/CD, I did not use any electrical appliance such as cellular phone; I had my right foot on the brake pedal and the gear lever was in the Drive position.

When I bought this Corvette, at the time of its delivery, the garage prominently displayed Cadillac and Chevrolet logos touting the dealership factory-approved services and salesmen. This was later revealed to be false!

As any engineer knows, therefore not only one of the specialists in GM for such dysfunctions, given that electronic logic is sensitive to interferences and the Corvette C5 compartment is flooded with violents signals; it was imperative, after the first serious incident, to install a black box or timestamping recording device, filming and recording the actual foot position of the driver, the throttle and brake positions, engine rpm and vehicle speed in order to analyze a possible re-occurence of the event.

I am dismayed at the contempt that General Motor and Chevrolet has with regard to a GM customer, in adition a good customer. However, with the Corvette, in June 1998, I received a very interesting letter from the then Chevrolet General manager which said: "Corvette means as much to us as I know it means to you. We truly value our business and are committed to your total satisfaction and enthusiasm"! GM thus promised me, in June 1998, much more than what GM held so far! My Corvette C5 is a defective product, since, on two occasions already, it did not offer the safety which I could legitimely await, taking into account all the circumstances, and in particular of the use which can be reasonably awaited from a vehicle of this price and this power.

For a second identical incident, according to jurisprudence, when the cause of a breakdown remains unknown, the garage is supposed to be responsible. When, on April 26th 2002, I entrusted my Corvette C5 for repair purposes to the garage, it created contractual obligations on the parties. Like any repairing mechanical service, the garage/dealership thus accepted several obligations:

* to repair the vehicle,

* of safety

* and advice.

In other words, as of the moment when, following the first accident, the garage agreed to repair my Corvette C5, it accepted to give it back in perfect operating state and to counsel me correctly. This obligation of the garage is known as binding one.

Nobody of GM examined my Corvette after this first repair by the garage, as I had expressely requested. One can say that the garage was not diligently at all concerning this very important point. Evidently this is a serious professional misconduct.

Concerning the advice obligation: when my husband went to fetch the Corvette, the garage did not warn him, nor myself thereafter, therefore the customer, of the probability of a future repetition of the accident, including dysfunction of the electronics of this vehicle. Which any responsible mechanic must do, specially when it is safety issue, as it was obviously the case. On the contrary, the chief mechanic, assured my husband, who fetched my car at the dealership, that the Corvette C5 was repaired and in perfect order; that such an accident would not occur any more and that the GM specialist had controlled it. A garage mechanic knows that he is not a professional like others. He works on a very powerful object which can be dangerous in the event of a technical failure. Since my Corvette C5 was repaired by the garage, and afterward had the same accident, I regard this garage as the principal responsible for the second accident on May 7th, 2003. This garage did not correctly carry out the required work. Its execution was defective and insufficient, hence, the second accident. As of the responsability, even if the electronics of a Corvette C5 is more complex than wheel bolts, this second accident is not different from a serious personal injury suffered for a GM car owner because of the loss of a wheel badly tightened, after having entrusted his vehicle to a garage.

The manufacturer is the one liable for the electronic defects that were at the origin of the two accidents.

Had I known that a second identical accident could reproduce itself, I would have gotten rid of this vehicle after the first accident.

Conclusion.

Being a surgeon, I cannot risk to drive again this "crazy" car. At the time of my first accident, I almost mowed down the parking garage guard. Neither could I take the risk to hurt somebody and I won't have any excuse if a third accident happened and neither would GM, Chevrolet or the garage.

Considering the gravity of this double and identical accident, I see myself forced, not only to renonce driving or using this Corvette anymore, but also to ask that all the Corvettes C5 be subject to a factory recall to control all their electronic, to correct the defects and origin of such dysfunctions and prevent any such accidents.

I have four more questions:

1. Do you know of other such accidents?

2. To which authorities and associations can I announce this defect?

3. Do you know an independent electrical and control enginner or widely recognized engineering institute, who can make a report on this double electronic control system malfunction and unexplained sudden acceleration of my Corvette C5?

4. Do you know a lawyer who is a specialist for such automotives problems?

Amarillys Taylor Schwander MD.

I can assure you that if there were any such malfunction in the C5 Corvette, it would have all over the U.S. news a long time ago. Every policeman who's been around the block a few times can tell you a story about a driver who claims their car "ran away". The truth invariably is that said driver was mistakenly pushing the gas pedal in a moment of panic thinking it was the brake. I'm sorry to break this news to you, but this is what you were doing.

My 1999 Chevrolet Corvette C5 Convertible was also a Death Trap.

I Have Owned a 2000 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe C5 5.7 V8 Automatic that was a complete Death Trap.

The engine usually Stalls sometimes when the car, reached 70 MPH. This is very dangerous, once the Car stalls, you lose the Power Steering and Brakes.

Also the Car usually stalls when it rained.

Also the Transmission started to slip from Gears, sometimes the Gear slipped from Drive (D) to Neutral (N). When this happened the Car Jerked; Sometimes the Gear slipped to an inferior Gear and this could cause the car slow down, also very dangerous.

Erratic idle, and kangarooed so badly in traffic it was almost undriveable.

Not to mention another problems.

This Car was bought as a Replacement for a 1997 Ford Mustang GT.

Replaced in 2003 for a BMW M3 which it is a Much Better Car.

I am a member of a local Corvette Club with over 200 members and a National Corvette Club with over 10,000 members. I am also an associate of the SAE and ASE license holder. I have never heard of this or any other "problem" with any of the C5 Corvettes.

The C5 is one of, if not the best engineered car in the world, regardless of price.

I would have to say that this is a case of someone who needs to go back to a vehicle they can handle, like their prior vehicle. The Corvette is indeed an extremely fast and powerful vehicle, that put in the wrong hands, could result in serious and/or deadly consequences.

In the right hands, the Corvette becomes more than a incredible car. It becomes a lifestyle that will reap many rewards for their owners. I can't wait to buy several more!

I think it's significant that he had his foot on the brake during what he delightfully terms the "acceleration dysfunctions". Who's to say he didn't hit the accelerator by accident or hit both pedals at the same time?

I think that if these problems did exist then either all C5 Corvettes would have been recalled or GM would be staggering under the weight of millions of lawsuits from Corvette owners.

I don't know if this will clear up some of what was said earlier, but I had the problem of the car jumping forward when I was coming to a stop. In the end I realized what was happening was that indeed while pressing the brake pedal I was also slightly touching the gas pedal. The harder I tried to step on the brake the harder the car was trying to get away from me. I realized that as soon as I let up a little, all would stop. I felt a little bruise to the ego when I learned it was in fact a "user problem" not the car. I hope this might help someone.

I have a 1998 corvette coupe with 55,000 miles on it. This car was purchased new by my father, and I bought it off of him last year. We have never had any troubles with this car, and I am proud to own it.

I have a 1998 Corvette with 10,261 miles on it. When in park, as I try to go into reverse the car shuts down and the screen says " pull key, wait 10 seconds, restart car". Chevy dealerships and GM have no answers for me nor will they help me. Anybody have this problem or an answer?

My Dad just bought a 1998 Chevrolet Corvette with 13,896 miles on it! I love it!!! It's a really cool car, and yes! I would recommend this car!!! Although some people say the seats are a bit uncomfortable I highly disagree with that comment. It's an awsome sports car (the best we own!) We have a Lamborghini and our Corvette makes it look like a 1982 beat up Ford!!

PS: Corvettes do hold there values as well!

"Being a surgeon, I cannot risk to drive again this 'crazy' car."

What does being a surgeon have to do with anything?

This reviewer was accidentally pushing on the accelerator while braking. The accelerator and brake pedals on a Corvette are positioned close, to allow for a proper "heel-to-toe" technique, as well as quick access to the break during performance driving. A vehicle like the Corvette should have this feature. The driver just needs to be aware of the type of vehicle he is operating. I do not say that as an insult, because I have made the same mistake myself, before I learned about performance vehicles and performance driving. The Corvette is not at fault here.

To the guy with the error message when in reverse: it has to do with the steering column lock recall. If you had it fixed (there were 3) you still could be getting a fuel shutoff signal from the computer. When it happens, take it to GM and tell them this easy fix.

Electrical system on 1999 corvette has gone totally crazy. What could be the problem?

"I can assure you that if there were any such malfunction in the C5 Corvette, it would have all over the U.S. news a long time ago. Every policeman who's been around the block a few times can tell you a story about a driver who claims their car "ran away". The truth invariably is that said driver was mistakenly pushing the gas pedal in a moment of panic thinking it was the brake. I'm sorry to break this news to you, but this is what you were doing."

July 2008 - Reply to the driver with Vette sudden acceleration: Even though I not had any major problems with my 2 previous vettes, I did have the identical problem described with a Ford Taurus MT-5 with manual transmission. Immediately after washing off the engine at a car wash, I started to have the problem (I know, that's not too smart with all the electronic gear on today's car), the buddy with me at the time was a Ford Mechanic and he had never seen the problem before. The Eugine would accelerate to full speed without touching a pedal, ANY pedal.

After getting the car to the dealer, we could not get it to do so again. After a week it happened to me, again at the local dealer the car was fine. The local Ford dealer kept telling me I was nuts as there was no such thing as sudden acceleration, that I was pushing on wrong pedal. But after 2 months of this, the problem was chronic and dealer ate his words. But after 3 weeks the service manager could not resolve the problem, and set-up a meeting with Ford Regional Rep. with me there. Within 2 minutes of hearing the problem, the rep advised the dealer's service manager to change the Throttle Position Sensor. This fixed the problem and we never had an another problem, and by the way Ford covered the repair under the Emissions Control warranty at no charge (the powertrain warranty was expired).