NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Preliminary Evaluation PE06-016: CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURE - STALL
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE06-016 on May 4, 2006 and closed it on September 14, 2006, the day it opened Engineering Analysis EA06-016, whose summary cites it. NHTSA's investigations file lists 4 models from 2 makes for it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- PE06-016 (also written PE06016)
- Investigation type
- Preliminary Evaluation The first stage of most defect investigations: NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation gathers basic information about a possible safety defect, including from the manufacturer.
- Status
- Closed September 14, 2006
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- General Motors, LLC
- Components
- Engine and Engine Cooling; Engine and Engine Cooling — Engine
- Vehicles and equipment
- 4 models from 2 makes, including the Chevrolet Silverado and Chevrolet Suburban
A recall appears here only when NHTSA's investigations file links one to the investigation; NHTSA's summary or record can name others.
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Preliminary Evaluation PE06-016.
THE OFFICE OF DEFECTS INVESTIGATION (ODI) OPENED A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION (PE06-016) ON MAY 4, 2006 BASED ON ELEVEN VEHICLE OWNER QUESTIONNAIRES (VOQS) AND EARLY WARNING (EWR) DATA ALLEGING SUDDEN ENGINE SHUTDOWN WHILE DRIVING AS A RESULT OF CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURES IN MY 2001-2002 GENERAL MOTORS C/K PLATFORM VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH 8.1L ENGINES.IN RESPONSE TO AN INFORMATION REQUEST LETTER SENT BY ODI, GENERAL MOTORS (GM) PROVIDED OWNER COMPLAINT INFORMATION, FIELD REPORTS AND WARRANTY CLAIM DATA BASED ON A POPULATION OF 108,338 VEHICLES. THE DATA WAS CATEGORIZED BY ENGINE STALLS WHILE DRIVING, ENGINE STALLS WITH AN UNKNOWN DRIVING CONDITION, NO START CONDITIONS AND CLAIMS WHERE IT WAS INDETERMINATE IF AN ENGINE STALL OCCURRED WHILE DRIVING.GENERAL MOTOR'S RESPONSE INCLUDED 1,213 OWNER COMPLAINTS AND FIELD REPORTS OF WHICH 289 WERE CATEGORIZED AS ENGINE STALLS WHILE DRIVING ALLEGEDLY CAUSED BY CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURES. GENERAL MOTORS ALSO SUBMITTED WARRANTY CLAIMS FROM ITS REGULAR WARRANTY (5 YEARS/50,000 MILES) AND FROM ITS EXTENDED WARRANTY DATABASE. FROM THE REGULAR WARRANTY DATABASE THERE WERE 3,140 CLAIMS OF CRANK POSITION SENSOR REPLACEMENT OF WHICH 147 CLAIMS WERE FROM CONSUMERS ALLEGING ENGINE STALL WHILE DRIVING.GM STATED THAT 2,841 OF THE CLAIMS WERE INDETERMINATE IF AN ENGINE STALL OCCURRED WHILE DRIVING.FROM ITS EXTENDED WARRANTY DATABASE, GM SUBMITTED 1,561 CLAIMS OF CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURE THAT IT ALSO STATED WERE INDETERMINATE AS TO WHETHER AN ENGINE STALL OCCURRED WHILE DRIVING.IN TOTAL, GM REPORTS 4,701 CLAIMS OF CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURE COMBINING REGULAR WARRANTY AND EXTENDED WARRANTY.SIMILAR TO GM'S STATISTICAL ANALYSIS, ODI'S ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THE FAILURE RATE FOR WARRANTY CLAIMS OF ENGINE STALL WHILE DRIVING AT THREE YEARS IN SERVICE IS LOW (LESS THAN 1%).
HOWEVER, FURTHER ANALYSIS DETERMINED THAT THE MY 2001 VEHICLE BUILD PERIOD FROM MAY 2000 THROUGH OCTOBER 2000 HAD SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER (MORE THAN FOUR TIMES) CRANK POSITION FAILURE RATES IN BOTH CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATA AND WARRANTY CLAIM DATA THAN IN THE BUILD PERIOD FROM NOVEMBER 2000 THROUGH JULY 2001.
ADDING THE CLAIMS OF KNOWN ENGINE STALL WHILE DRIVING AND CLAIMS WHERE ENGINE STALL WAS INDETERMINATE, THE FAILURE RATE AT THREE YEARS IN SERVICE FOR THIS POPULATION IS OVER 6%.
AN ENGINEERING ANALYSIS (EA06-016) HAS BEEN OPENED TO FURTHER ASSESS THE FREQUENCY AND POTENTIAL SAFETY CONSEQUENCES ASSOCIATED WITH THE ALLEGED DEFECT IN VEHICLES BUILT FROM MAY 2000 THROUGH OCTOBER 2000.
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Preliminary Evaluation PE06-016. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.
Chevrolet
All Chevrolet recallsGMC
All GMC recallsWhat an NHTSA investigation is
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.
An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.
To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Free VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.
Sources
NHTSA's investigation record for PE06-016
Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.