It seems the last few months have been about scandals on the market for vehicles. With Volkswagen starting us off last August with the diesel emissions scandal that showed us there was a cheating device that had been installed for several years. After that scandal we were introduced to the fact that Mitsubishi has been cheating on their fuel mileage numbers for nearly twenty-five years. In the midst of these two scandals other automakers need to look into their own vehicles before they are caught up in a similar type of scandal and have the negative publicity these two automakers have already experienced.
Anyone who still believes “all publicity is good” has not participated in the complete drop off of sales Volkswagen and Mitsubishi have experienced over the past few months. This scandal may in fact cause Mitsubishi Motors to pull out of the US market entirely, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. As other automakers work to ensure their vehicles offer the correct information GM has discovered a discrepancy in their SUVs that needs to be addressed. As one of the largest automakers in the world and one that creates a wide variety of SUVs that we can trust and enjoy GM needs to stay ahead of any problem that comes up.
GM announced three of their SUVs have overstated fuel mileage numbers and they are taking the proper steps to make this right. The Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia, and Buick Enclave all have stickers that list their fuel mileage to be at 17 city/24 hwy mpg with a combined mileage of 19 mpg. The actual rating for these vehicles is 15 city/22 hwy mpg and a combined rating of 17 mpg. In order to correct this problem GM issued a stop sale for the 59,823 models on dealer lots that are affected by this issue.
GM is issuing new stickers and sending them to dealers to ensure they can correct the issue and these vehicles can be sold with the right information on them. They are also working to notify customers who have already purchased the affected vehicles to send them the corrected labels. They are also planning to address any complaints that may come as a result of this misinformation. This issue was discovered when engineers were working on the Monroney label for the 2017 model year to create the right information.
Thankfully GM is getting ahead of this problem instead of hiding it from the public for several years, which is what has put Volkswagen and Mitsubishi in hot water with the public. It’s important that as we go forward every automaker take this move from GM as an example of the right course of action so they can remain positive in the public eye even when a small issue occurs. There is certainly no place for negative publicity when you want to sell cars; just ask the heads of Mitsubishi and Volkswagen who are facing down the double barrel of a massive scandal.