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Camaro team's response to concern about Transmission Output Shaft Failure

We bring you a message from Mr. John Fitzpatrick (aka Fbodfather 2.0) regarding the community's concern about potential output shaft failure:

Quote:

I understand over the recent Thanksgiving holiday, the Camaro output shaft topic heated up. We understand the members' passion and concern for this issue as it involves a major powertrain component. Rest assured, everyone on the Camaro team takes these issues very seriously, but there is some confusion regarding this matter that we would like to try to clear up.

As many of the members know, we started to receive warranty claim reports in June of this year regarding output shaft failures on Camaro SS models with manual transmissions. When we noticed a spike in claims, a review was initiated to determine the root cause for the failure. This review is common practice for us, and usually takes a number weeks to complete. Since we did not immediately know the root cause, we did slow the shipments of Camaro SS models from Oshawa for a couple of weeks until the review was completed.

At the end of the review, we concluded the probability of a customer experiencing an output shaft failure under normal driving conditions are very low (or - if you are into engineer speak, "below tolerance"). In fact, even in the most extreme driving condition, the probability of failure does not significantly change.

Ideally, we would like to say that there is no chance a failure under any driving condition will occur. We know this is not possible since every car - regardless of manufacturer - has some probability of a part failing. In the case of Camaro, we believe the probability is very low. We have such confidence in the low probability that we back it up by providing the industry best's powertrain warranty - 100,000 miles or 5 years, which includes roadside assistance and courtesy transportation. If the powertrain part fails due to a defect in our workmanship or material, we'll correct the issue regardless of the number of owners a particular Camaro may have during that period.

Hopefully this will provide a little more insight from our perspective on this topic.

Sincerely,

John Fitzpatrick
Marketing Manager - Chevy Performance Cars

Additional info:

Quote:

C5.com: What is considered "normal" and "extreme" driving conditions?
John F.: I would think "normal" is pretty self evident...If you are competitively racing the car, that would be considered "extreme" driving.

C5.com: What happens if I modify my car and it breaks?
John F.: Hopefully, customers are using GM Parts for their modifications. If they are, these parts are also covered by warranty. Each case needs to be reviewed on its own merit to determine whether the warranty would cover a failure. If the failure is directly traced to the modification, then the warranty would not cover the issue.

Thank you, John.

And "Thank you" to everyone who's raised concern on this relatively confusing topic.

So here's the ground rules, folks:

Don't troll. I'm well aware a few of you will not be satisfied with this response...that's your prerogative, but please don't post repetitive negative messages.

I've closed all the other M6/output shaft threads. I'd like the tail-end of this topic to be concentrated in here.

Feel free to ask questions you're still unclear about. They care about their customers, and Camaro5 is the perfect place to ask your questions surrounding this issue. BUT; Try to do so in a respectful manner, and please understand you may not get an answer.

:thumbsup:

Thanks John :clap:

and thanks Dragon for putting this to rest... or at least trying to!

Nice statement...but really doesn't clear anything up. Makes it sound like there was no defective part. If that's the case, there will be even more paranoia about failing transmissions because it effects all of us, not just a certain vin range.

Aftermarket tailshafts anyone???

Seems pretty straight forward to me. If it breaks GM will fix it. As it should be. Chances are your not gonna break.

:iono: either way i just hope it doesnt snap

Very cool of him keep us informed...:w00t: There's is always a weakest link in every chain... guess we have found it in the LS3.

Doesn't sound like it will be a problem to get it fixed under warranty. The one I know of that was fixed under warranty had race track rubber stuck all over the tires. Still got fixed under warranty...:thumbsup:

Dragoneye, thank you for posting this up.

Dees this mean ,if I beat the hell out of it while it's under warranty they will fix it, or do I have to drive it like I'm going to sunday school?

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolman (Post 1240640)

Dees this mean ,if I beat the hell out of it while it's under warranty they will fix it, or do I have to drive it like I'm going to sunday school?

John says after review, the probability of failure is very low -- even during performance driving. And they will cover any failures as outlined in the Powertrain Warranty:

http://www.gm.com/experience/warrant....html?page=faq

Just bear in mind that there is a difference between performance driving...and abuse. Try to refrain from those redline clutch-dumps....

Thanks for the post.

:clap: Thank you for the info

This is why we have warranties. My original stance was that the issue could be dangerous, but it is clear that GM has done thorough enough testing to certify that this part will probably not fail. GM made the right call on this. The did the legwork of researching the problem and came to the conclusion that it probably will not fail. If it does, GM has the market's best warranty, and that should make people feel comfortable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BackinBlackSS/RS (Post 1240526)

Seems pretty straight forward to me. If it breaks GM will fix it. As it should be. Chances are your not gonna break.

True but what it boils down to is GM is banking that we will mod our cars within the 5 year/100k miles period (which is highly likely to happen) so at that point, if we break the shaft, the power is on their side to deny the warranty claim. GM loses nothing with this current approach and decision on this issue.
Nice statement but I call it :bs:

That's my .02 cents