Questions and Answers
My Wheel Fell Off!!
Q. I drive a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix with ABS brakes, power steering, fuel injection and cruise control. This past Friday my ABS light came on, I pulled to the side of the road, read the manual that indicated I shut off the ignition and restart the car to reset the ABS.
I performed this function and drove another kilometer and sure enough the light came back on. Next step I called my dealer to ensure I was safe to continue traveling (I was about 150 kilometers's from home between nowhere and nowhere. I was assured the manual brakes would still work fine and all I needed to do was arrange for a service on the car (next Friday they had an appointment available)
I continued on my way home and approximately 25 kilometers from home as I turned a corner off the highway onto the road home the rear drivers tire made a clunking sound. I slowed down, listened for further noise and made it into my driveway. Upon inspecting the rear tire to see if anything seemed to have broken away I noticed black dust on the wheel rim. I again called the service dept. Was told I could probably get the brake looked at in a town approximately 45 kilometers from my home on Saturday.
I tried to get there on Saturday morning but stopped instead in a town only 23 kilometers from home to see if their mechanic could look at the brake as it was now making a noise. The mechanic wasn't able to do anything Saturday as his shop was not open till Monday, however he did have a quick look at the rear drivers wheel.
He told me under no circumstances could I drive the car on. The rear wheel was sitting on an angle and he said the calipers were welded to the drum, the bearing had let loose and I was lucky not to have had the wheel come completely off on the highway and either seriously injure or even kill me due to an accident.
Is it normal for the rear driver's wheel to have that type of thing happen to it with a car that has only 73,000 kilometers (45,300 miles) on it? The mechanic felt it was possibly a factory defect. What do you think?
Marilyn
A. For a wheel bearing to go bad in less than 73,000 kilometers is unusual. The problem is at this milage (kilometerage?) it is probably no longer under warranty. I would still have a nice long talk with Pontiac about this and see if they will cover all or part of the repair under a Good Will warranty. Sometimes even the dealer will help out with some of the cost, especially if you bought the car from them.
I think a little fighting and standing up to them will get you, at the very least, partial help.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
