1995 GMC SAFARI — Complaint #466458
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:FRONT:SPRINGS:TORSION BAR filed April 18, 2004
NHTSA complaint #466458 (ODI reference 10066426) concerns a 1995 GMC SAFARI and was filed on April 18, 2004. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 3, 2001. The vehicle had 75,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Utah based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:front:springs:torsion bar, 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 GMC SAFARI cohort independently describe similar suspension:front:springs:torsion bar 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 1995 GMC SAFARI shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
WHEN RIGHT FRONT TORSION BAR ON ALL WHEEL DRIVE MINIVAN WAS REPLACED TWO YEARS AGO, VAN BEGAN EXHIBITING UNSTABLE, EXTREMELY SENSITIVE, AND DANGEROUS HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. REPLACEMENT OF TIRES, TWO SETS OF SHOCK ABSORBERS, AND MULTIPLE REALIGNMENTS AT MY EXPENSE DID NOT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. IF I HAD NEEDED TO MAKE AN EMERGENCY EVASIVE MANEUVER UNDER THESE CONDITIONS, MY VAN WOULD VERY LIKELY HAVE ROLLED OVER. WHEN LEFT FRONT TORSION BAR WAS REPLACED THIS WEEK, I WAS INFORMED THAT GM HAD DEVELOPED A NEW TORSION BAR DESIGN, AND THAT I WAS NOW REQUIRED TO REPLACE BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT BARS IF EITHER FAILED. THIS DUAL REPLACEMENT FINALLY SOLVED MY HANDLING PROBLEMS. THE MANUFACTURER SHOULD RECALL AND REPLACE SUCH DEFECTIVE PARTS FREE WHEN THEY ENDANGER PASSENGERS! I HAVE PAID FOR REPLACING THREE DEFECTIVE TORSION BARS OVER A TWO YEAR PERIOD. *JB
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 466458 |
| ODI Number | 10066426 |
| Date Filed | April 18, 2004 |
| Failure Date | April 3, 2001 |
| VIN | 1GKEL19W0SB |
Similar SUSPENSION:FRONT:SPRINGS:TORSION BAR Complaints for 1995 GMC SAFARI
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 1995 GMC SAFARI. WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS PARKED IN THE GARAGE, THE FRONT TORSION BAR ON THE FRONT DRIVER SIDE SNAPPED IN HALF. THE ENTIRE DRIVER SIDE FRONT END DROPPED DOWN ON TH
THE CONSUMER OWNS A 1995 GMC SAFARI. THE CONTACT SAYS WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS SITTING IN THE GARAGE THEY HEARD A LOUD BANGING NOISE. WHEN THEY WENT OUT TO THE GARAGE THEY NOTICED THAT THE TORSION BAR
THE FRONT OF VEHICLE WAS VERY LOW TO THE GROUND. CONSUMER FOUND THAT THE RIGHT TORSION BAR BROKE. *AK
RIGHT TORSION BAR BROKE OVERNIGHT IN MY GARAGE.ONLY HAS 66K MILES, PARKED IN A GARAGE AT ALL TIMES. MOST ASTRO/SAFARI VANS BREAK ON THE LEFT SIDE. THE DEALER INFORMED ME THAT I CAN NO LONGER BUY THE
LEFT FRONT TORSION BAR BROKE AS IT WAS PUT INTO GEAR FROM PARK. MECHANIC STATES THAT THIS IS A PROBLEM WITH THIS MAKE AND MODEL, BUT NO RECALL HAS BEEN INITIATED. CAN'T FIND REPLACEMENT TORSION BAR
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.