General Motors says it is delaying shipments of thousands of 2015 Corvettes and telling dealerships that already have the new models to stop selling them for the time being. A spokesperson at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant says two safety issues are at the heart of the decision.
One issue concerns rear parking brake cables, the other with the part used to connect the airbag and steering wheel.
Bill Visnic, senior analyst with edmunds.com says the entire auto industry, not just GM, has learned lessons in the last year about disclosing potential safety problems.
“There’s definitely erring on the side of caution in this case,” said Visnic. “But at the same time, it’s just more-or-less simply the right thing to do, particularly when you’re talking about a high-performance model where someone might be using the car in fairly extreme conditions, you want to make sure you have all the requisite safety items where you need them to be.”
An assembly plant spokesperson says 2,000 of the Corvettes may have issues with the brake cables. She said a portion of those cars are still at the plant, while others have been delievered to dealers. Meanwhile, 800 cars that may have airbag problems are already at dealerships. GM says there's no timeline for the problems to be fixed.
The 2015 Corvette, which is produced exclusively at Bowling Green’s GM Assembly Plant, has been well received by both Corvette fans and the auto industry.
“I don’t think this will even move the needle as far as perception of the new Corvette goes,” said Visnic. “It’s a fabulous performance car, it’s a fabulous performance bargain, frankly. And, you’ll see these things happen with almost every newly-launched vehicle, you’ll sometimes see minor kinds of problems with certain components.”
Reuters reports sales of the Corvette are up more than 200 percent from the same time last year.
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