1993 GMC SAFARI — Complaint #554224
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:FRONT:SPRINGS:TORSION BAR filed September 13, 2005
NHTSA complaint #554224 (ODI reference 10136399) concerns a 1993 GMC SAFARI and was filed on September 13, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 27, 2005. The vehicle had 182,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Michigan 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. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.
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 1993 GMC SAFARI shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
1993 GMC SAFARI ALL WHEEL DRIVE 7-PASSENGER STANDARD WHEEL BASE VAN WITH 42" TORSION BAR FRONT SPRINGS AND 182,000 MILES. THE DRIVER'S SIDE FRONT TORSION SPRING BROKE INSIDE THE ADJUSTER SLEEVE AT THE FRAME CROSSMEMBER, DROPPING THE DRIVER'S SIDE ONTO THE FRAME. WHILE THIS FAILURE OCCURRED WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS PARKED, JUST THREE DAYS BEFORE I HAD USED THE VAN TO TAKE A TRIP WITH MY FAMILY ON THE INTERSTATE AT 70 MPH. A FAILURE HERE WOULD HAVE BEEN CATASTROPHIC. I WAS INFORMED BY THE DEALER THAT THE ORIGINAL SPRING DESIGN WAS NO LONGER AVAILABLE, AND THE UPDATED VERSION COULD ONLY BE SOLD IN PAIRS(BOTH SIDES). IT SEEMS TO ME THAT IF SUCH A CRITICAL COMPONENT AS THE FRONT SPRINGS ARE SO UNRELIABLE AS TO REQUIRE A COMPLETE RE-DESIGN, THAT A RECALL IS IN ORDER. *JB
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 554224 |
| ODI Number | 10136399 |
| Date Filed | September 13, 2005 |
| Failure Date | August 27, 2005 |
Similar SUSPENSION:FRONT:SPRINGS:TORSION BAR Complaints for 1993 GMC SAFARI
EXCEPTIONALLY DANGEROUS SPONTANEOUS SHEARING OF FRONT LEFT TORSION BAR. GMC MUST KNOW OF THIS PROBLEM, BECAUSE THEY HAVE COMPLETELY REDESIGNED THE TORSION BARS, REQUIRING A MAJOR RETROFITTING (AT THE
WHEN ENTERING VEHICLE LEFT FRONT END DROPPED DUE TO TORSION BAR SNAPPING. DEALER SAID BOTH TORSION BARS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. *AK
GM OF CANADA AND THE TRANSPORT CANADA HAS BEEN NOTIFIED OF THIS PROBLEM. GM RESPONSE IS THAT IF THEY DETECT A PROBLEM WITH A COMPONENT THEY WILL INVESTIGATE ALTHOUGH IT SOUNDED MORE LIKE A BRUSH OFF.
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.