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Another power steering issue recall

Wayne001

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Had a letter today from holden regarding EPS recall . I rang customer care and asked them what it was all about as i have documentation showing that the car already has had a new rack and pinion put in to solve the issue , he told me there is another recall to do with different part of the harness which will take 4 hours to replace and the parts are not expected till june this year . The issue happens at 20klm or under if it does happen the car will chime and service steering will show on dash , if this happens turn car off and it will reset itself . My car is 2014 vf calais .
 
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mwb235

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I got the same letter yesterday. Mine is a 2014 Calais V.
 

Skylarking

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The first attempted fix for loss of power steering assistance was a “service campaign” where Holden dealers applied a dielectric grease to the EPS connectors.

That didn’t work so they had another bite of the apple, maybe a year later. I think was also a service campaign but not sure. They tried the same dielectric grease trick but also applied some Aryldite around the connector body to make a mechanically more stable plug. Sadly, they later found out that this actually made things worse.

At some time they also changed the rack design and used gold pins within an/all? EPS connector/s which supposedly solved the issue. These new racks were rolled out to new builds and I’ve posted dates etc so look back through the linked thread above... Also, where people were suffering with power steer loss, after these new racks were available, these new racks were used as a fix either handled as warranty fix or as a goodwill guesture.

I’ve never seen the naked racks nor compared them side by side so can only go by what seems to have leaked out of Hold n via GM recall and service campaign info on US sites. Sadly such info seems to be harder to find now than some months ago...

Finally, this year, Holden decided to perform a safety recall to correctly fix the issue. This is the one and only loss of power steering assistance recall... so to be pedantic, it’s not another recall :p

Holdens handling of this situation does leave a lot to be desired in terms of good corporate communication.

What I suspect Holden is doing now with this safetty recall that they are building up inventory of a kit of parts they can use to retrofit the “good bits” from the new rack (with solid connector containing gold plated pins) into the old rack (with wobbly connector containing tin or whatever plated pins). I’d guess this would be much cheaper than a whole rack replacement.

So, @Wayne001, it’s likley the HCC bod you spoke to doesn’t really understand the history of this issue or the technicalities that sit behind it. For some of them, they are not even car enthusiasts and it’s just a job until they find something better. Me, I take whatever they say as rubbish unless they put it down in an email...
 
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