GM recalls Canyon, Colorado pickups for transmission risks

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a recall for a concern over a faulty securing pin in the automatic transmission shift linkage in certain 2011 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups.

This new GM pickup recall affects 6,768 trucks from the 2011 model year, including the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon models equipped with automatic transmissions. In these trucks, there is a pin that secures the PRNDL shifter to the linkage which controls the gear selection and it seems that in some of these trucks, that pin is not doing its just of keeping everything all lined up. Should this pin fail, the driver can still select gears as normal but in actuality, the shifter may not indicate the actual gear of the transmission so if the driver puts it in park – it could actually be in any of the other gears without the driver knowing. However, even if the truck is in reverse, neutral or one of the forward drive gears the steering column may still let the driver remove the key from the ignition and walk away as if the truck was in Park.

There are a few risks created with this new Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon recall as leaving the truck in a gear other than Park could allow it to roll away. While the truck coasting a few feet may not pose much of a safety hazard, should the truck roll out into traffic or gain momentum and strike a pedestrian it could do a tremendous amount of damage to people and other vehicles. Also, even if the truck does not move at all, if the pin fails and the shift linkage comes free of the controlling arm, the truck may not start if it is stuck in Reverse or a Forward drive gear.

This Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon recall is expected to officially begin on July 29th, at which point owners will be notified and asked to return to their friendly neighborhood Chevy or GMC dealership where a technician will replace this pesky pin – free of charge to the owner, of course.

Other GM News:
GM leads the US industry in June 2011 sales
GM considering a Chevrolet Cruze coupe
Introducing the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro Transformers Special Edition Camaro Coupe
The Nissan Leaf bests the Chevy Volt in June 2011 sales
Mustang battles back, beats Camaro, Challenger and 370Z in June 2011