Heres an interesting read

[87 STEPPER]

This is dated 23 April 2001.

I found this a few day back and thought some of you may be interested in this information.

I sent my $1000 voucher into CRG and never got my 100 bux from them and the last time i called them all i got was some recording.

Yeah i'd say we really got hosed by GM on this one.

Anyway heres the link.

http://www.autosafety.org/GM-CK/4-01press.htm

[Zoomad75]

87Stepper, if I read the article correctly, you were trying to sell your certificate to a company separate to GM. Right? I hate to say it but I think you got hosed, but not by GM on your $100.

I've got a different perspective on the whole side saddle tank issue. I was at Chevy in the customer assistance center taking the calls THE day after that crappy fabricated pile of so called journalism aired on Dateline. (I havent watched since BTW) To which made it an interesting day to say the least. I'm not defending the placement of the tank as it was designed a few years before I even came into this world. But, unfortunately the whole issue got elevated to epic proportions when that story showed up on TV. Once you get that type of spotlight all the bottom feeders start looking for chunk of that giant settlement pie. CRG was just one of those groups feeding on people's need to get something more useful than $1000 off your next GM purchase. Like say CASH?

I'm not sure what on earth CRG would do with all the certificates they got since the value dropped to half every time it changed hands. If I remember the program correctly, you could only use one certificate at a time so it's not like if they bought up a bunch of certificates they could get new cars for next to nothing.

Any updated word on this modifcation they were planing on marketing? I'm not trying to rub salt in the wound but it just reeks of the smell of a fly-by-night con.

I'm just wondering why GM didn't sue the bejeezus out of NBC for such fabricated crap of attaching explosives to get the desired effect they wanted. GM might have owned NBC if they fought them on it.

[87 STEPPER]

Yeah i got hosed by CRG for to 100 bux.

But i feel we all got hosed by GM for not doing the tank retrofit i would rather have had my truck fixed and made safer to operate than have a $1000 certificate or a 100 bux cash but at that time i never thought i'd buy another New GM product so i opted to sell my cert.

If i recall corectlly the Certificate Redemption Group was set up by GM to buy back the cert's. @ a 100 bux a pop to save GM from having to honor all the cert's that would be redeemed. Then GM bought them from CRG for less than that. So in reality GM really didn't comply with the federal court decision to correct any thing. or compensate anyone.

Also i do belive that GM sued NBC for that stunt.

[Pyrotechnic]

Consumers concerned about the fire hazards of the 1973-87 GM C/K pickups, which have been involved in over 1,800 fire crash fatalities since their introduction in the fall of 1972, can use the money from selling their certificates to offset the cost of the retrofit (approximately $125 if mass produced plus labor).

Ok, well where are these retrofit tanks ? I sure have never seen one ?

...which have killed more people than any other defect in US auto history

Is this true ?

This article seems to reek of BS just as much as that Dateline show did.

[Zoomad75]

IIRC, GM tried, unsucessfully to block CRG from buying up the certs. I don't remember them being set up by GM originally, but that was a while ago and I've slept a few times since.

I'm still curious to know what this magical retrofit part was that supposedly made the side saddle tanks safe. I'm not trying to come off as a smart arse, I just don't know what they could do short of relocating the tank between the rails that would make it less vunerable.

Here's some simple #'s crunching. 4,000,000 trucks on the road at the time of the article. Lets say the actual retrofit would run GM $1,000 per unit to fix. That's 4 Billion bucks to fix every truck. I don't need a law degree to figure out why GM fought on the settlement 4 billion would have broke the company. At that point it was in the lawyers hands and they came up with what they all (both sides mind you) agreed upon. So in my mind the greedy lawyers on the side of the class action sold the truck owners up the river for a quick buck. As most class action suits go, the victor gets the legal fees paid by the defeated. SO GM paid the legal fees for the suit and all the truck owners got was a chunk of paper for $1000 off the purchase of a new GM vehicle, meaning you got to spend YOUR money to get the discount, otherwise the paper had NO CASH VALUE. Not everybody wanted a GM car when it came out so those let GM off with a free pass. It sucks but that's what happens when lawyers get together.

I'm a little leery of the stats quoted too. I'm not saying fires don't happen, but I think the numbers quoted might be off. If we were to compare stats to say trucks built with the fuel tank INSIDE the cab from GM dating back to the 50's or Ford or Dodge would we find they had a lower, similar or higher death rate from fuel related fire than the 73-87 truck in side impact crashes?

I don't know about you but I personally don't like having a fuel tank right behind my back. I'd move it if I had a 67-72. If your side saddle tank concerns you then get a blazer tank and stuff it between the rails out back. I'm not saying that to be a jerk, but it's plainly obvious GM's moved on once the class action suit got settled. In thier mind it was better just to get you out of the truck and into a new one than fix it. If you made the choice not to take the $1000 bribe than you've left it to yourself to fix what GM didn't.

[86-C10-V6]

None of this matters now, the certificates expired years ago.
I think you had a limited time frame to apply for the certificates, then a limited time frame to use them.
I may still have mine, but I'm pretty sure it has no value.

[bigtruck81]

just a thought... maybe CRG was in on it with GM, and by hosing you for $100, saved GM $1000 for every certificate issued.

what is really so unsafe about these trucks? i've owned over a dozen and never had a problem. it takes a large impact to puncture the tank, and at that point, a little hole in the tank is the least of your worries. i side impact like that in a 3 point harness will definitely put you at a much higher risk of neck injuries, or even death, than the remote chance of puncturing the tank and causing a fire.