2003 BUICK REGAL — Complaint #438062
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL:SPRINGS filed October 29, 2003
NHTSA complaint #438062 (ODI reference 10045045) concerns a 2003 BUICK REGAL and was filed on October 29, 2003. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 13, 2003. The vehicle had 5,400 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Alaska based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as vehicle speed control:springs, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same BUICK REGAL cohort independently describe similar vehicle speed control:springs failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2003 BUICK REGAL shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I BROUGHT MY CAR INTO THE DEALERSHIP BECAUSE OF A THROTTLE PROBLEM. THEY SPRAYED SOMETHING ON IT (ALUMINUM TYPE SPRAY) AND SENT US ON OUR WAY UNTIL THEY ORDERED A NEW PART. IT WAS THE WRONG PART AND A MONTH WENT BY WITHOUT A FURTHER CALL REGARDING ANY NEW PART COMING IN. ON SEPTEMBER 13TH I HEADED INTO ANCHORAGE ON THE BUSIEST HIGHWAY IN THE STATE OF ALASKA. THE THROTTLE SPRING LET GO. I FOUND MYSELF CLUTCHING THE STEERING WHEEL WITH THE BRAKE PEDAL TO THE FLOOR. I WAS ON THE HIGHWAY AT 70 MPH AND THE BRAKES WOULDN'T WORK. I TRIED DOWNSHIFTING BUT THAT DIDN'T EVEN CAUSE A BLIP OF REACTION IN THE CAR'S SPEED. NOT KNOWING WHAT WOULD HAPPEN BY APPLYING THE EMERGENCY BRAKE WHILE GOING AT LEAST 70 MILES PER HOUR, I HAD NO CHOICE AND PUSHED ON THE EMERGENCY BRAKE. THAT DIDN'T WORK AT ALL. AS I RUSHED DOWN THE ROAD WITH THE PARK BRAKE ON, I ALSO PRESSED ON THE REGULAR BRAKES AND THAT FINALLY WORKED ENOUGH THAT I COULD SLOW DOWN TO APPROXIMATELY 50 MPH. I DROVE ONTO THE SHOULDER AND
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 438062 |
| ODI Number | 10045045 |
| Date Filed | October 29, 2003 |
| Failure Date | September 13, 2003 |
| VIN | 2G4WF521231 |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.