1998 Holden Commodore S from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Dear Sir / Madam

I would like to bring to your attention a concern I am having with General Motors Holden.

I am the owner of a 1998 VT Commodore. In March this year I was involved in an accident that could have quite easily resulted in my death. In the accident my car was hit in the front passenger side. In the accident my air bag didn't work. The seat belt mechanism shattered. Neither system restrained me as these safety systems are advertised to do. Some $17,000 damaged was done to the car.

Bringing my concerns to both the failure of the airbag and primarily the seat belt shattering to GMH, their response was: "The SRS employed in the Commodore is designed to offer additional protection to that provided by the existing restraint systems, primarily the seat belts and seat belt pretensioners". On this Holden and I agree, however, Holden seem to be ignoring the fact that it was my seat belt that shattered, leaving me with no primary restraint.

Conversations with Holden since than have resulted in lots of "ducking for cover" and "passing the buck".

I believe that this a major safety issue with my vehicle. I hope this is not a major safety issue with all VT Commodores.

If you wish any further information (including photos of car and shattered seat belt) my contact details are:

Michael Wilcock

0417 263 892

michael@printheads.net.au

9 Bell Street Maroubra NSW 2035

Hi Michael.

I have read your review and comments and hope you are somehow physically and emotionally managing. It is disturbing to hear such dangerous defects occurring, and even worse when a manufacturer attempts to avoid its responsibilities. I hope your state of health has not been affected badly, however by your own description of the accident, it was a big one and obviously there must be major residual effects. I am glad people like yourself have the opportunity to write your experiences in an article like this one provided by Steven.

Keep getting the message out there.

Andrew K.

Member of the Institute

of Automotive Mechanical Engineers.

Hi, Just a quick comment for what its worth on Holden and the 'Ducking for cover'. I have just purchased a new VX S pac Commodore and had two issues with the car which were in my mind very poor build quality and extremely poor paint finish (new paint should not look like a spider has spun a web all over your car when the light or sun shines on it!).

Holden were not only defensive when I called to complain, but rude. I must say the Yard did their best to help and were very very helpful, but I shudder to think what people like yourself must have to go through with serious issues to get action from Holden. Basically you're left feeling like their attitude is 'you bought the thing now leave us alone'.

Good luck and keep at them!

Hi, don't buy Ford or Holden, they're both crap. Get a Toyota or something. Australian made cars are very faulty. Read some of the Toyota reviews that are 10 years old and they still work good. Also Australian car service isn't very good either.

Well said! I have worked for Ford and Toyota dealerships and I can tell you that Falcon/commodore are well below the standards of their Japanese and Japanese derived but locally built opposition. People buy cars based on habit and ignorance. I don't mean that in a condescending manner but many Holden and Ford buyers (Commodore & Falcon) don't even consider a Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Volkswagen, Peugeot or Mitsubishi because they don't know any better.

Sue them!!!

Their irresponsibility could have cost you your life!

I sympathise with you in your accident, but I must bring light to the airbag 'failure' you made mention of. The airbag mechanism is only designed to activate in a frontal collision and if the collision is greater than a designated speed. If you refer to your owner's manual, it clearly states there the correct operational conditions of the device.

Yes, it is loosely advertised that an airbag is meant to protect the occupant in case of a collision, but automobile manufacturers unfortunately don't go into detail of design specs.

The failure of the seat belt mechanism does sound very worrying indeed.

Yeah, although I know what you mean, but what sort of accident was it though. I had a crash in a VX HSV GTS and one of the air bags didn't work on driver's side and the seat belt failed as well (it's shattered as well). I was lucky to walk out, but I tell everyone I was travelling at speeds of above 240km hours when I hit a tree that split the car in half nearly. The matter of the fact is that these cars aren't designed for speeds like that, even if you were at 120km hr and that other car is travelling at 120km, no car, especially the Japanese cars stand a chance (240km hr impact). Holdens are heaps safer than Toyota and are designed for Australian roads, no offence, but I would prefer to have a crash in a Commodore than a Toyota Camry or Avalon.

I don't understand how a seatbelt can shatter, what actually happened, did the buckle fail?

Just regarding the comment about travelling 120 km/h and 240 km/h in a VX GTS etc. and having an accident, it wouldn't matter what type of car (or truck for that matter!) you were in because 9 times out of 10, you'd be history - regardless of whether you're in a Japanese car an Aussie car!!

Well I own a 96 VS Commodore and I have had no problems with it at all. Holden are by far the best vehicle I have ever been in.

Aussies with their Holden Commodores and/or Falcons buy these cars and don't look beyond because for one the Police force use these cars. They must think "if the coppers drive these things then they must be good". What they fail to realize is that the Australian Police are most probably obligated to use/buy these Aussie brand cars. They certainly aren't the best cars on Aussie roads, no way, no how!

I have no desire to own a Commodore, or Falcon. Ever. Especially with a big V8 under the hood. Sure, they may have more "street cred" than any Japanese car, or any 4 cylinder car for that matter. But these big Oz cars are shameful dogs, they drop in value like a stone and the build feels dangerously cheap. And in the very temporary times I happen to drive them, I don't feel safe at all. They are just overpowered bombs and beasts, a horrible accident waiting to happen (especially in the hands of young idiots who like to max it out at top speed).