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Sedans Chevrolet Aveo My 09 Aveo Nightmare....
9 messages, Last post on Oct 06, 2009 at 3:49 PM
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5/11/09 I don't want to pollute the board here with garbage but I wanted to share my wonderful experience I've had with my new car. I bought an 09 Aveo - brand new with 13 miles on it - in September of last year. I had wore out my first ever car which was a 96 Pontiac Sunfire that was bright red with red interior dash and red seats. I loved that car but it was time for a new one. That Sunfire had been great to me and I just had to do routine maintenance on it for the 12 years I had it. So, being so used to not having a car payment, I go for a new inexpensive car with supposedly good gas mileage in the Chevy Aveo. Price was right at $12,500 fully loaded after my other cars were factored in the trade. Ever since I got it the car has not got over 23 mpg - city or highway. They told me I was probably just a bit hard on it but even to its dying day I could still get over 30 mpg city on my old Sunfire. I have just accepted the fact that it doesn't get the gas mileage I thought and that's disappointing for such a small car. Anyway, about a month ago driving to the golf course going down the interstate my friend looked over and said holy crap I think your car blew up. I had no idea what he was talking about and he pointed to the speedometer which was sitting on the big zero. It took a second to register with me but I said well the car is running fine and then it shot up to 120 and then to 70 - the speed I was actually running. I thought, "well that's pretty weird. Better have it checked out." I set up an appointment and the car kept doing it over the next couple of days before I got it into the dealership where I bought the car. They worked on it for 3 hours and told me that the battery was a little low and it just wasn't sending enough volts to make the speedometer work right. Ok, that wasn't so bad. Well, the next day it starts doing it again. So, I call the service department and take it back in. They run a sweep test on the car and it failed it immediately. So they keep my car for 3 days and put a brand new gauge cluster in the car. They said that the gauge was bad and that's what was causing the problem. Ok, no big deal. I get the car back at 5:00 on Friday afternoon right as they closed. I got about halfway home and the stinking car done it again. I go back in there bring and early Monday morning and they are shocked to see me. I tell them that its still doing it and I want them to fix it. They put me in a rental car that Chevy is paying for and say they will have to do some extensive testing on it. This was 2 weeks ago today when it went back in. Friday of the first week the service guy calls me and says that all the tests are pointing to the ECM of the car being torn up causing the speedometer to go haywire. Oh, did I mention the OnStar is out too? I discovered that about the same time this other thing started happening and they are supposedly putting a new OnStar system in it too. Anyway, he said that he had ordered the new computer and it should be in Friday and my car should be ready last Monday. Tuesday rolls around and I still haven't heard anything so I call back. The guy said well now Chevy is saying they want us to run more tests that they aren't sure its the ECM. Staying patient with them I said fine lets get it fixed. Friday rolls around last week and the service manager calls me back and says well we have ran all of these tests and it still points to the ECM. He said he ordered another one Wednesday and Chevy called him Thursday and said they weren't going to send it. He said instead they are insisting on replacing the gauge cluster again that they think its torn up. Still calm because I know its not his fault personally I said what in the heck is going on? I said I had the new gauge 5 minutes before it tore up now c'mon its not the gauge. He said he can only do what Chevy tells him to do that his hands are tied. He said he agreed with me. But then the absolute biggest KICKER of all is that he said the gauge cluster was on back order and he didn't expect to get one until AT LEAST late this week. I said great so I am paying for a car I'm not even driving. I said then the frigging gauge will tear up again and then you will have to run these tests again and then we will be right back where we started 2 weeks ago. He said I am about dead sure its the ECM and its not the gauge but I have to replace it again right now and now that part is on back order. So, I go in there Friday afternoon to talk to a manager since that's where I got my car. I was very nice to him and he was cordial back to my wife and I. He said he understood our frustrations and was going to call Chevy himself and try to get something done quicker. All I want is them to do something about this. I've had that car in there now 3 times for the same thing and they can't get it fixed. Now Chevy won't even send the ECM to fix it even though that is what the service department keeps ordering for my car. Thee service manager told me that he honestly thought they won't replace that ECM until its the very last resort because it costs them so much to replace it. I said well its costing them $120 a day on this Enterprise car rental that I've had a couple of weeks now. Just frustrated beyond belief at this point. I never expected a brand new car with less than 5,000 miles to have so many problems so soon. I hope I haven't got a lemon for life. To anyone that read this entire novel pat yourself on the back. Sorry it was so long. 5/13/09 I've talked to the finance manager again today. He said he's 99.9% sure that GM has agreed after "review" of my car problems to go ahead and change out the ECM. (Find out later they agreed to replace it because the 2nd replacement gauge cluster came in and it was bad as well) 5/20/09 Update! I call yesterday to see where they were with it. The service manager says good news and bad news...... He said the good news was that they got the new ECM and got it installed yesterday in the car. Then he turns around and tells me the bad news. After they "booted" the ECM up after installing it the ECM proceeded to wipe itself clean out. I said well what are you going to do about that then? He said honestly I'm at a complete loss. I've never seen anything like this. We can't program your car no matter what we try to do the ECM just keeps wiping itself clean. So now that's twice my car has done things they have never seen before. He said that it had just happened 30 minutes ago and they were all trying to figure out what in the world is going on. So I said well I'll get back in touch tomorrow. I think I'm going to go back up there and ask for my two old cars back. I know 8 months removed they are probably looooooong gone by now. But I'm going to say then replace it with something comparable - pay this piece of crap off - and we'll be done. Now that my wife has a new car for herself I don't have to have a new one anyway. And quite fran |
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And quite frankly I don't WANT anything to do with an Aveo. I've never dealt with a situation quite like this so I don't know how I'm going to go about doing it but I've honestly had way past enough of this crap. Just give me something that would replace the two I traded in 8 months ago, pay this one off, and we'll call it even. I won't go shouting on the highest mountaintops about how God awful this whole ordeal has been and will still have something to drive. Oh, and I would request a used Nissan or Honda. That Honda I traded in along with my 96 Sunfire were both superior cars to this one. The 93 Honda had 250,000 miles on it and ran like a dream. I should have known better I should have known better! Went back today to talk to the service manager. He says he's been on the phone with lead engineers at GM. Apparently there are 4 other cars (all 09 Aveo's like mine) that are having the same problem across America. He is saying that GM is saying that there is a major problem with the coding. So he's telling me the ECM is not bad rather the computer code is so messed up that it won't read it correctly. He said have you ever heard of bricking a cell phone or something? I said sure you mess something up and its as good as a brick. He said well your car is a brick right now - it can't be programmed. And there are 4 other cars across the US that can't be programmed either. But he assures me that the lead GM engineers are on this problem because he thinks that this could be a widespread problem on 09 Aveo's and others just aren't having the symptoms yet. So GM is working, as he said, quadruple time to get the programming fixed in this car because alot more of them could start coming back for the same problem. And as of right now they don't have a solution to the problem. I think that GM should just give me a new car. If Aveo's are having that big of a problem give me a Cobalt for the same price and call it a fair trade. I can't imagine how you could have such a fatal programming error in such a car. Its blowing my mind really. The service guy said he would call me back tomorrow because he says GM is now well aware of a problem since its happening to several other cars at the same time so they are trying to fix it ASAP. What it does now is once you try to do a reprogram it bricks your entire car. He said they can't even get my car to fire anymore that they just roll it around. Its almost becoming comical.........almost. End of rant but just thought I'd share this for amusement purposes.
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Replying to: downndirtytn (May 28, 2009 6:01 am)
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Replying to: poncho167 (May 29, 2009 6:57 am) |
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Good luck with the lemon law. With the car being that new, you might succeed. Our situation is different, with a "lemon" 2007 Aveo LT sedan that is close to worthless (see separate post). Car doesn't fit that law because of age, and is still under warranty. Buying an inexpensive, but poor quality vehicle such as the Aveo is not a great idea. I dread seeing what I get for this thing when I go to sell at the end of the warranty period in the fall. GM customer service, thus far, has not inspired me to continue my LONG relationship with that company in the future. |
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Replying to: downndirtytn (May 28, 2009 6:01 am)  I'm really sorry to hear your bad experiences with GM and your dealership regarding your 2009 AVEO. Has this issue been resolved? Have GM replaced your car with another new Aveo? I have a 2007 Aveo LT-RS Sedan. I purchased the car new in April 2007 and have had an excellent time with my car. So far I have 44,000km on the AVEO and nothing has gone wrong. Nothing! I had a 2003 Toyota Yaris before this car that had 7 minor issues with trim, door locks. But my AVEO has been perfect. It is a five speed manual transmission car and I average 39 imperial miles per gallon which is about 45 miles per US gallon and that is mixed city/hwy driving. I've read reports of poor gas mileage and suspect these Aveo's are automatics with the a/c running full blast all the time. I've also read reports of electrical issues for 2007-09, but my car has been perfect. |
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| Wow! Is this where I am headed? I have one of those few 09 Aveo’s that only gives 20-22 mpg, I have nearly 2,000 mile on it. The garage keep assuring me that it is giving me 27-32 mpg on their run. Surprise, the last miles are down hill. They say the computer is OK. Tires pressured correct, oxygen sensors ok, etc. They implied that I might be riding the brake. After driving for 65 years, they should know how to drive. If anyone knows an answer to this problem, please help. Others I talk to get up to 40 mpg. I am afraid the car GM call a GREEN CAR is more YELLOW as in LEMON. | |
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Downndirtytn, I just read your post. I was having similar problems with my 2009 Aveo (had it 6 months, has 14,000 miles). The gauges would go on and off randomly, following no apparent pattern (except SOMETIMES they would work while coasting, then go off when giving gas). Anyway, I brought the car into the shop this morning and just got a phone call and was told "Your battery seems to be a bit low and we think that was causing the problem". Looks as if though I am on the same path as you. They are going to look into it further and get back to me. How did it turn out for you in the end?
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Replying to: georgerinnh (Oct 06, 2009 3:11 pm) I made GM repurchase the vehicle. They wanted to do a repurchase/replacement but I didn't want anything to do with it. See, in their grand wisdom, GM makes you pay FULL MSRP for the price of the new car you are getting. Since you can readily get cars anywhere from $1,000-$2,500 under MSRP any day of the week I wouldn't do it. In the end we worked out a deal where I paid HALF price usage on the car. The usage fees they charge are 27.5 cents/mile. I got him to cut that in half. That made me go from owing them $1,800 worth of usage to $900. Then, they factored in how much I had paid and took some other crap off of it and we wound up getting a check for $250 or something in the end. Yes, we technically paid them $900 usage but after they ran the numbers and subtracted some other things on the original deal it came out in our favor. I would go the route I went if I were anyone else having these problems. You have to fuss, cuss, fight, and get down to their level but you CAN talk them into something like this if you stick with it. They tried fixing my car many times though and never could get it fixed so I did have that working for me. However, by law, all they had to do was replace the Aveo with another Aveo. And even then they were going to charge me FULL PRICE on the replacement Aveo so with the Aveo prices going up I would have had a higher car payment and more financed. I am done with GM/Chevy. Once we got that out from under us we went and got a 2009 Nissan Sentra with the Sports Package. It was $20,000 sticker at the dealership but we got the $2,500 rebate, he lowered the price a little more than that, and we took a dealer car with 1,000 miles and walked out of there with a brand new Sentra financed for under $16,000 and a lower payment than on the Aveo. Oh, and this car is hundreds of times nicer, more comfy, much better looking, and gets 34-38 MPG. Get out of the Aveo if you can - I still don't think they have figured out how to fix the issue I - and now looks like you - are having. |
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