General Motors, USA
Complaint 166220 Details

My wife and I were on our way home. Pulled out onto a service road next to the highway and the road curved slightly. We had driven less than 1/10 of a mile when my steering locked. I could not move the wheel. So I slammed on the brakes as hard as possible to the floor. Smoke poured out of the car and you could smell burning brakes. As I applied the brakes as hard as I could the auto began accelerating. It does not take long for a Corvette to hit high speed. Thank God we hit a curb and went airborne. The car was headed for a large round concrete sewer headed for my wife's throat. I thought she was going to be killed. After going airborne we landed about 25 feet from the curb we hit, facing in opposite direction.
The sum of this is I blew out 3 tires, bent the frame, had plenty of fiberglass body damage. The airbags never opened. The car accelerated upon braking. All this and steering wheel lock. We were scared to death but alive.
I contacted GM-Corvette and we were very polite and cooperative. But it seemed everything we said was used against us. I can see now why GM almost went bankrupt. As a customer we were treated horribly. We asked for copies of reports of things they did to the car and were refused.
It is terrible that these large corporations can walk all over you. The last phone conversation I had with GM they laughed at me.
We really did love that car. The ECL, a theft deterrant, is the root of all of this 2003 Corvette. The ECL theft can lock your steering wheel and to quote GM "RESULT IN A CRASH" while the car is in motion. The second step for ECL is suppose to be turn off your car or it can fully accelerate and cause a crash. Since they admit to this online that these defective parts can happen to anyone at any time. Thank God there have not been any deaths, just injuries.
This ECL is on all Corvettes 1997-2004. It
should be removed from all vehicles since not fail safe fix with their recall. All reports under EA2031 backup all of my events here and what I lived through. It is a very dangerous part and they are aware of all of this documentation.
Please try to help me with this situation. I cannot fight against a corporation on my own. What I would love is a solution to have my car replaced with the same color. My vehicle had 34,xxx miles. It was like brand new and was taken care of with kit gloves. I guess I will have to take all of this anger and disappointment to my grave. Cost of buying this car was $42,000.00 cash purchase. Thank you very much for your time and patience with me. Most Sincerely,
Douglas F. Varn