Service Side Detection System - SBZA

Doesn't upset me in the least. I won't own a daily driver not covered by a factory warranty.

You call them secret warranties, GM calls them special coverage's.

You still did not answer the question. How long do you expect someone else to pay for your failed side detection system? 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?

Manufacturing defects happen. That's why vehicles come with a warranty. That is why owners have the option to purchase extended warranties.

Many like to roll the dice but then like to rant about the manufacturer when the manufacturer doesn't want to pay for out of warranty repairs.

As I said, I do not understand that mindset. Of course it always seems to be about money. My son sees this on a daily basis. Once out of warranty repair estimates reach a certain dollar amount all of a sudden owners start looking for someone else to pay for the repairs.

People are strange.

I'm back. First off, i owe the group closure to Round 1. Posts between 45 and 54 in this thread (thank you Speleos, for consolidating these) which occurred 3/11 to 4/8/2017 resulted in an out of pocket $600 expense for (1) 23106752 BLOCK, (1) 84004718 HARNESS. (2) 22960672 MODULE. and (1) 84049754 SWITCH. They had the <60k mile vehicle for 5 days and worked on it almost full time. The roads were clear of salt and I was able to use my '92 typhoon for daily driving. The dealer worked with GM to get me the $600 bill; I don't know how well they were compensated by GM for labor or parts.

Fast forward to fall of 2019. Vehicle had about 98K miles and we wanted to trade it for a 2020 before hitting the powertrain warranty expiration at 100k.. With the strike, inventory was miniscule and we didn't make the move A Halloween blizzard salted the roads for the season and I lost interest in a new vehicle while the roads were salty.

Round 2 began with "SERVICE SIDE DETECTION SYSTEM" around 102k and went downhill fast. One day the DIC also scrolled "SERVICE AIR BAG", "PARK ASSIST OFF", and "SERVICE TIRE MONITOR SYSTEM". The HUD flashed a big GMC and the gauges were swinging back and forth before going flat. I was driving home on a sunny morning after dropping my daughter off at school, so no worries for me. If this happened to a normal person in traffic, or at night in a bad neighborhood, or in below zero weather; there could be some stress. Because I read this forum, I knew that where the vehicle is shut off is probably where it's going to stay. I parked it in a spot that wasn't blocking my other cars and that a tow truck could get to. I shut it off and removed the key. A loud clunking noise was coming from the dashboard. I tried to restart and got nothing. The clunking noise persisted and I proceeded to disconnect the battery before it was drained. I know where the battery is and which tools are required to disconnect it because I replaced it last fall when it was weak after sitting for a few days. Did I replace a good battery that was feeding a current drawing module?

The dealer is under new ownership since Round 1. I'll try to give them a call tomorrow.

I battled with GM almost a year on my SBZA issues and the extended warranty. Prior to that, I had the SBZA problem and the GM dealer gave me nothing but problems with their lack of parts to fix this issue. I therefore ended up going to a local mechanic who was able to obtain 2 new SBZA modules.

GM finally did send me a reimbursement check for the local mechanics charges after all the lots of phone calls and my time wasted dealing with uncaring service reps.
When I did receive the check, it was less than my cost for repair of my vehicle. The GM rep told me to send back the check and he could open up another case to fix the issue.
I decided it would be easier to cash the check instead of battling with GM's rotten customer service for another 11 months; and then I can go around and make sure none of my family members never-ever buy another GM vehicle. I'm working from home now, but when I go back to work I will also be sure to tell everybody at work about the lack of integrity and uncaring nature of GM's customer service.

Just posting a followup on my situation - post #168

While I could go on and on about how terrible of an experience I had with GMC and their customer service over the past 6 months, I'm not sure that everyone wants to hear the full details. In the end, after being lied to multiple times by GMC about them covering the repair under "good will", then by the SCA warranty strangely, and then later by a refund check, I ended up covering the cost of the repair myself. I just want to point out that I never expected GMC to pay for the repair, they offered to help when I first contacted them, I took their fluffy bait, then got ditched.

I guess for those that are interested and to detail it some, keep reading, others, you can just ignore the rest of this post. In my case GMC offered a "good will" coverage and while the part was on order closed the account so the dealership could not get paid. We went through 4 different reps over the past 6 months and apparently they had no documentation on the agreed upon "good will" because the rep who got the approval and issued it was no longer employed at GMC (as were the previou 2 other reps I spoke with). It was just my word and the dealership's word - but apparently that wasn't enough. We provided notes (I have all the dealership notes as well), the dealership called multiple times, I spoke multiple times, but they would not accept them as proof.

On a followup call - GMC said it would be covered under their warranty (which quite surprised me) and I wouldn't have to pay for it, only two days later came back and said it wouldn't be covered because it fell outside the VIN check. Go figure. GMC apparently got in a heated conversation with the dealership - where GMC wanted the dealership to admit fault that they were the ones who said they would cover it and to then cover the repair so that GMC wouldn't look bad in front of me. I guess the shop supervisor at the dealership hung up on the GMC rep after a few choice words. I heard from both sides - very unprofessional the finger pointing that went on between the dealership and GMC. Later GMC admitted that they dropped the ball on the first "good will" issue and offered to refund the amount because of their mistake. They requested all my information to issue a check and said it would be sent in the mail.

A month later, the rep came back and said repair was once again declined and there was no longer anything that could be done. End of support. A simple no at the beginning of all this would have been a heck of a lot better than a - "get it diagnosed, we'll see what we can do, we'll pay for it, no we won't, we'll pay for it, no we won't, we'll pay for it, no we wont" over the past 6 months. It became a matter of principal after being lied to the second time... Over 24 phone calls, over 6 months of back and forth, it sounds like a bad novel, I just can't make this stuff up...

The repair was only for the driver side sensor and the harness. I am a little concerned that the passenger side sensor will fail this winter and I'll have to repair the sensor and another wire harness. This will be the 4th driver side sensor going in the 2015 Acadia, and the third wiring harness. So, my odds that the new sensor will also fail are pretty good.

I never expected to have the repairs covered, all I wanted was an explanation on why the vehicle I had, that exhibited the same issues multiple times fell outside their SCA. I wanted them to document the issue so that they were aware there were vehicles outside their scoped SCA that were affected. They have no idea there are vehicles that have issues like this unless they are brought to their attention. I urge everyone who has this issue to file an NHTSA report and also contact GMC about the issue. Only with these additional reported issues will they ever expand the SCA or fix the GMLAN issue.

I'm still very concerned that the failing sensors pose a huge fire and safety hazard. The fact they draw power while shorting out is a huge fire hazard. I'm also very concerned that the GMLAN offers no electrical interference protection - and that the sensor when shorted out can cause corruption which shuts down the airbags, and results in loss of vehicle maneuverability. These sensors malfunction due to water corrosion - which shorts them out, which corrupts the GMLAN. Many different things can cause them to short out, one fore example is a rear impact. Same basic principal - it's all just physics. Only a death will really trigger this to be addressed unfortunately. All I can say is don't get rear ended into oncoming traffic or your passenger airbag won't deploy.

In the end, I'm done with GMC. I won't own another vehicle, nor will I ever suggest it to anyone. I just rightfully can't recommend them. I've got it in the shop now to repair the rear evaporator core - because it's leaking freon. One more $1,000 repair. This vehicle is less than 5 years old Due to the vehicle shortage I'm probably stuck with it for a while, so it's just a waiting game to foot the bill on another issue that crops up with it.

Oh, and one more issue I had to deal with. While the dealer had my vehicle they wrecked the front end and had to have it repaired. They attempted to overcharge me for a part that mysteriously was the same cost of the body shop repair. That part was for a 2018 Elantra... I guess they didn't expect me to look it up. They also tried to charge me for both sensors when they only repaired one. I had to make them crawl under the Acadia so that they could see that they did not replace the passenger side sensor. I'm done with that dealership as well.

I rarely complain, I rarely find things I dislike - I don't often do this, but I felt the need to post this update.

Just a terrible overall first impression with GMC from a new customer.

I ordered a new one from Rock Auto for $215. It is supposed to be preprogrammed and it has a 3 year warranty. Made by "Standard" with original GM label and part number on it, 84031087. I plan on putting it in tomorrow. I'll report back on this and let you know how it went. God Bless!
[/QUOTE]

Hi, I'm going to ask you because I found your posts on this topic extremely informative, well written, and pretty much the same as what I found with my 2015 Traverse. (please don't anyone snub me cuz I'm on the "wrong forum". These vehicles and their side detection issues are all pretty much same/same). Your "cure" of hardening the crack between housing and it's cover with epoxy and using dielectric grease in the connector is also exactly what I was thinking. I was even thinking about using shrink boot around the cable where the boot plugs into the housing just for good measure. At any rate, -I found one module (drivers side) that looks ok, and the other on the passenger side is clearly shot. Looks like water/salt/road crud intrusion followed by a hard freeze, causing the white plastic "housing cover" to bulge out and ooze crusty goop out the expanded gap. I pried the cover the rest of the way off and the circuitry is not exactly looking like anything that will ever work again. My question is this: The part number that I get from rock auto for the module for my 2015 Traverse is the same as yours. (84031087). Meanwhile, I have also noticed several similar modules for similar years of Traverse/Acadia/Denali under different part numbers, but the housings all look identical. While at my local body shop yesterday, one of the guys was saying he was replacing the side detection modules on his 2014 Acadia, and he shared a link with me for a place on ebay that has his modules for $89, brand new. $89 bucks each beats the heck out of rock autos current $244/Each, and both are cheaper than the GM price of $340/each! Of course I'd rather go with the more inexpensive $89 units. Unfortunately, they don't have the "correct" 84031087 module that matches your and my vehicles The modules they are selling are part number 84440527, and they look identical to the ones I need. Same housing, same connector plug etc. Just a different part number. HOWEVER, underneath the part number for the module on their site, (which is supposed to be for 2013-2014 GM models and a couple of other 2015 GM models, but not mine of course), is a model number for the module itself. Both my old modules and these new modules share this "module model number" of 6181175. In case I said that in a confusing way, on my modules is a part number, and underneath that is a model number. The part number on the ebay modules is different, but the module model number is identical. So what makes these modules specific to a vehicle and year? And ARE they really specific? Probably by the time you see this and respond I will have bit the bullet and bought the "correct modules" from rock auto, but in case this question can save anyone else $300 they don't need to spend on these pieces of garbage that all need to be epoxied and gooped and made as much as possible the way they should have been made from GM to begin with, I will post the question anyway. Also, I'm the kind of person who wants to know the answer anyway. What in the software, firmware or hardware is incompatible? ARE they really incompatible, or is this just more silliness from GM? I'll attach the ebay link in case anyone else finds it useful.

Dadd said:

I ordered a new one from Rock Auto for $215. It is supposed to be preprogrammed and it has a 3 year warranty. Made by "Standard" with original GM label and part number on it, 84031087. I plan on putting it in tomorrow. I'll report back on this and let you know how it went. God Bless!

Click to expand...

Hi, I'm going to ask you because I found your posts on this topic extremely informative, well written, and pretty much the same as what I found with my 2015 Traverse. (please don't anyone snub me cuz I'm on the "wrong forum".

These vehicles and their side detection issues are all pretty much same/same). Your "cure" of hardening the crack between housing and it's cover with epoxy and using dielectric grease in the connector is also exactly what I was thinking. I was even thinking about using shrink boot around the cable where the boot plugs into the housing just for good measure. At any rate, -I found one module (drivers side) that looks ok, and the other on the passenger side is clearly shot. Looks like water/salt/road crud intrusion followed by a hard freeze, causing the white plastic "housing cover" to bulge out and ooze crusty goop out the expanded gap. I pried the cover the rest of the way off and the circuitry is not exactly looking like anything that will ever work again.

My question is this: The part number that I get from rock auto for the module for my 2015 Traverse is the same as yours. (84031087). Meanwhile, I have also noticed several similar modules for similar years of Traverse/Acadia/Denali under different part numbers, but the housings all look identical. While at my local body shop yesterday, one of the guys was saying he was replacing the side detection modules on his 2014 Acadia, and he shared a link with me for a place on ebay that has his modules for $89, brand new. $89 bucks each beats the heck out of rock autos current $244/Each, and both are cheaper than the GM price of $340/each! Of course I'd rather go with the more inexpensive $89 units.

Unfortunately, they don't have the "correct" 84031087 module that matches your and my vehicles The modules they are selling are part number 84440527, and they look identical to the ones I need. Same housing, same connector plug etc. Just a different part number. HOWEVER, underneath the part number for the module on their site, (which is supposed to be for 2013-2014 GM models and a couple of other 2015 GM models, but not mine of course), is a model number for the module itself. Both my old modules and these new modules share this "module model number" of 6181175.

In case I said that in a confusing way, on my modules is a part number, and underneath that is a model number. The part number on the ebay modules is different, but the module model number is identical. So what makes these modules specific to a vehicle and year? And ARE they really specific?

Probably by the time you see this and respond I will have bit the bullet and bought the "correct modules" from rock auto, but in case this question can save anyone else $300 they don't need to spend on these pieces of garbage that all need to be epoxied and gooped and made as much as possible the way they should have been made from GM to begin with, I will post the question anyway.

Also, I'm the kind of person who wants to know the answer anyway. What in the software, firmware or hardware is incompatible? ARE they really incompatible, or is this just more silliness from GM? I'll attach the ebay link in case anyone else finds it useful.
[/QUOTE]I bought one of these from eBay. Replaced the right one, it worked for about a week. Now it works intermittently. I'm thinking about replacing the left one too.

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