Pontiac Solstice Forum - View Single Post - NHTSA Opens Preliminary Investigation into 2008 Solstice brakes.

Im sorry but I have to say that there are a lot of people on this forum with expectations that do not match reality.

One of the best engineered vehicles on the planet are F-150s. I have had many over the years.

I had switches come off in my hand

I had the auto trans main clutch set self destruct in a truck with less than 4000 miles on the clock totally destroying that unit

My 97 was in five times for front disk problems due to material problems with the pads. Ford stuck with it till they got all F-150s fixed

My 00 had the transmission swapped out at 6000 miles.

My 04 Ranager had the tranny out 5 times until they got the clutch working correctly.

No manufactured product is ever perfect in every example. the more complex the product is and the more units built the greater the number of failures there will be.

Expecting that every one of the 20000 Sky/Solstices to come out of the factory and be perfect for 100,000 miles is a fantasy.

You can improve your odds if you operate the car within its limits, keep an eye on how its functioning and identify problems early. Routine maintenance for example is in the direction of goodness. You can not just drive this car, you have to be an operator.

If you really want a car that comes out of the factory as close to perfect as possible, get a Bently or a RR. But you will pay through the nose for that perfection.

Its an imperfect world. There are always tradeoffs. We all want as much bang for the buck as we can get. GM is not the "evil empire" They are in the business of making money and they do that by providing quality products that people are willing to pay good money to own.

In the competitive world that GM must succeed in, they have to constantly have an eye on the bottom line. If they can save $100 on the manufacturing side they can take that money and put it back into new features that enhance their competitive advantage. You WANT them to do this. Otherwise we would all be driving 1950 cars because they are cheap and easy to build.

The market drove GM to build the cars that we love. That same market drives them to constantly look at the product for ways to cut cost of production, and add new functionality.

Last time I checked there was no one with a club standing behind you threatening you if you did not buy your Sol / Sky. You were a volunteer. Blaming big bad GM for your decision making process is not enhancing your position in life.

If your brakes don't work on startup, then wait till they do. If they don't come up to pressure or fail to work then its a failure. Its not necessarily a design problem because the brakes are not "instant on" every time you start the car.

To me its like saying "I left the top down and got all wet when it rained" "I did not want to put the top up and I did not want to get wet so its all that evil GM's problem" "They should have designed the car so that you don't get wet when the top is down in the rain"

Its physics.

As a result of the design, there are a lot of things that you MUST do to get the car to operate properly. Like opening the door before getting into the car. You EXPECT to have to open the door so its ok. If you have a properly functioning car, but its on the right end of the bell curve and takes a minute to come up to pressure then its still OK.

If you have to wait for a minute or even two minutes for brake pressure (vacume) to come up, then that is just the way your car operates. Our Sky takes about 15 seconds to come up to full normal pressure. I wait 20 seconds before I make a brake demand, then I check pedal pressure before I back out. Its part of the normal operating procedure for the car. I have never had a problem since I adopted this procedure. I dont think that GM screwed up because the car does not always have instant on brakes.

My 07 SOL has the vacume pump and I still wait for 15-20 seconds for the engine and appliances to come up to normal operating pressure, rpm etc. Then I put my foot on the service brake and know that all is well. Then I drive out.

If you dont' have braking after a minute then you have a problem. You need to get it repaired and returned to service.

Complaining about the evil GM and how they are out to screw us is . . . well just pointless and wrong.

Last edited by rob the elder : 03-11-2008 at 08:43 AM.

	rob the elder Member Join Date: Nov 2007	Im sorry but I have to say that there are a lot of people on this forum with expectations that do not match reality. One of the best engineered vehicles on the planet are F-150s. I have had many over the years. I had switches come off in my hand I had the auto trans main clutch set self destruct in a truck with less than 4000 miles on the clock totally destroying that unit My 97 was in five times for front disk problems due to material problems with the pads. Ford stuck with it till they got all F-150s fixed My 00 had the transmission swapped out at 6000 miles. My 04 Ranager had the tranny out 5 times until they got the clutch working correctly. No manufactured product is ever perfect in every example. the more complex the product is and the more units built the greater the number of failures there will be. Expecting that every one of the 20000 Sky/Solstices to come out of the factory and be perfect for 100,000 miles is a fantasy. You can improve your odds if you operate the car within its limits, keep an eye on how its functioning and identify problems early. Routine maintenance for example is in the direction of goodness. You can not just drive this car, you have to be an operator. If you really want a car that comes out of the factory as close to perfect as possible, get a Bently or a RR. But you will pay through the nose for that perfection. Its an imperfect world. There are always tradeoffs. We all want as much bang for the buck as we can get. GM is not the "evil empire" They are in the business of making money and they do that by providing quality products that people are willing to pay good money to own. In the competitive world that GM must succeed in, they have to constantly have an eye on the bottom line. If they can save $100 on the manufacturing side they can take that money and put it back into new features that enhance their competitive advantage. You WANT them to do this. Otherwise we would all be driving 1950 cars because they are cheap and easy to build. The market drove GM to build the cars that we love. That same market drives them to constantly look at the product for ways to cut cost of production, and add new functionality. Last time I checked there was no one with a club standing behind you threatening you if you did not buy your Sol / Sky. You were a volunteer. Blaming big bad GM for your decision making process is not enhancing your position in life. If your brakes don't work on startup, then wait till they do. If they don't come up to pressure or fail to work then its a failure. Its not necessarily a design problem because the brakes are not "instant on" every time you start the car. To me its like saying "I left the top down and got all wet when it rained" "I did not want to put the top up and I did not want to get wet so its all that evil GM's problem" "They should have designed the car so that you don't get wet when the top is down in the rain" Its physics. As a result of the design, there are a lot of things that you MUST do to get the car to operate properly. Like opening the door before getting into the car. You EXPECT to have to open the door so its ok. If you have a properly functioning car, but its on the right end of the bell curve and takes a minute to come up to pressure then its still OK. If you have to wait for a minute or even two minutes for brake pressure (vacume) to come up, then that is just the way your car operates. Our Sky takes about 15 seconds to come up to full normal pressure. I wait 20 seconds before I make a brake demand, then I check pedal pressure before I back out. Its part of the normal operating procedure for the car. I have never had a problem since I adopted this procedure. I dont think that GM screwed up because the car does not always have instant on brakes. My 07 SOL has the vacume pump and I still wait for 15-20 seconds for the engine and appliances to come up to normal operating pressure, rpm etc. Then I put my foot on the service brake and know that all is well. Then I drive out. If you dont' have braking after a minute then you have a problem. You need to get it repaired and returned to service. Complaining about the evil GM and how they are out to screw us is . . . well just pointless and wrong. Last edited by rob the elder : 03-11-2008 at 08:43 AM.