2007-2008 Chevy Silverado Recall
Recall involves vehicles that are equipped with windshield washer fluid heaters.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — August 28, 2008 — General Motors is recalling 944,000 vehicles, 850,000 of them in the United States, because of the potential for a fire in the vehicles’ heated windshield washer fluid system.
A short circuit in the circuit board that controls the system could cause a grounding wire to overheat. That could lead to smoke and the malfunctioning of other electrical components, GM (GM, Fortune 500) said in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In rare cases, it could cause a fire, GM said.
GM is aware of three fires caused by this problem, two of which were in the company’s own test fleet vehicles, GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said. The company is not aware of any injuries caused by the problem.
The vehicles must be turned on for the short circuit to occur, Wilkinson said, but he could not say whether the washer fluid heating system needed to be in use.
The models listed below, if they’re equipped with a heated windshield washer fluid system, are subject to the recall:
* Model year 2006-08 Buick Lucerne sedans and model year 2008 Buick Enclave SUVs.
* Model year 2006-08 Cadillac DTS sedans and model year 2007-08 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV and Escalade EXT SUVs.
* Model year 2007-08 Chevrolet Avalanche and Silverado trucks and Suburban and Tahoe SUVs.
* Model year 2007-08 GMC Acadia, Yukon, and Yukon XL SUVs and Sierra trucks.
* 2008 Saturn Outlook SUVs.
The fluid heating system is a popular option on many of GM’s large cars and SUVs, said Wilkinson.
On cold days, the system heats windshield washer fluid before spraying it onto the windshield, where it can melt ice and frost on the windshield.
To fix the problem, dealers will install a fuse that will shut off the system in the event of a short circuit. GM has not yet provided NHTSA with a schedule detailing when owners of affected vehicles will be notified.
Chevy Silverado Hybrid Packs a Punch Video
Check out this video talking about the new Chevy Silverado Hybrid truck, and other Chevy/GM hybrid trucks.
Chevy Silverado versus Ford in Tug of War!
I think this short video of a tug of war between a chevy silverado and a ford F pickup says it all. Was there ever any doubt about the outcome?? 
Win a Chevy Silverado Truck in Union Sportsmen Alliance Giveaway
CWAers and other union members who belong to the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance have a chance to win a 2009 Chevy Silverado in a promotion offered by USA, the hunting and fishing club exclusively for union members and retirees, and their families.
The winner of the Chevy truck will be announced the first week of July. All current active members of USA are eligible, along with anyone who joins by 12:00 am, June 30, 2009. To join, go to www.UnionSportsmen.org or call 877-872-2211. Membership is $25 a year.
In addition to connecting union sportsmen and women across North America, the alliance, a one-of-a-kind, hunting and fishing association of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), provides hunting and fishing information as well as discounts on outdoor gear, and chances to win prizes.
Chevy Silverado Up To 50 Percent Better Towing For Next-Gen Hybrid Pickups
With the first generation of the two-mode hybrid Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups arriving in showrooms, GM is already promising big improvements in pulling performance from its next-generation gas-electric haulers.
“We’re going to see substantial improvements in towing capability in our next hybrids,” said Gary White, GM North America vice president and vehicle line executive for GM Full-Size Trucks. “We think we can raise towing by up to 50 percent more than today’s (hybrid) trucks. For us, it just makes sense that we want to improve the trailering capability. It’s one of the top reasons people buy a truck.”
We expect GM’s next-generation hybrid full-size pickups to arrive by 2013.
GM’s 2009 two-wheel-drive hybrids are rated to tow up to 6,100 pounds, and four-wheel-drive models can tow up to 5,900 pounds. That means a tow rating of up to 9,000 pounds is possible in GM’s next-generation hybrids. A conventional GM 6.0-liter gas V-8 crew cab half-ton is rated to tow up to 10,600 pounds with an optional enhanced trailering package.
The two-mode hybrids combine an electrically variable transmission that houses two 60kW electric motors with a multi-displacement 6.0-liter V-8 gas engine. Depending on engine load, the electric motors alone can drive the truck up to 25 mph. As the V-8 kicks in, the electric motors seamlessly support it, individually or in tandem, at low and high speeds, helping the engine enter fuel-saving four-cylinder mode sooner and stay in it longer to achieve better fuel economy. Two-wheel-drive versions are EPA rated at 21/22 mpg city/highway, and four-wheel-drive versions are rated at 20/20 mpg city/highway.
White said today’s GM hybrid half-tons are limited in towing capacity by two factors: cooling requirements for the trucks’ sophisticated electronics, and torque limitations in some of the transmission’s gear-set changes.
How will GM realize its improvements in capability, along with another expected jump in fuel economy? Could GM’s future hybrid pickups evolve from today’s two-mode parallel hybrid architecture to a plug-in, series-hybrid powertrain, similar to the Chevrolet Volt’s so-called E-Flex system?
“E-Flex is an option that’s on the table,” White said. “I don’t know if the current system, the one that’s in (today’s) trucks, could evolve enough. One of the things you might consider is E-Flex.”
Current Chevy Silverado Rebates and Incentives
Featured Chevy Rebate and Incentive offers (as of March 16, 2009):
0% APR for 60 months(5) for qualified buyers on most models
$4,000 on Silverado Half-Ton Crew Cab
Now get up to $1000(1) PLUS 2 extra years of OnStar(2) service when eligible adaptive equipment is installed on any eligible purchased or leased, new GM vehicle.
GM College Discount Program
College students, recent graduates and graduate students,* you can receive the same discounted price GM suppliers receive on nearly all GM vehicles** through the GM College Discount Program. Combine your GM College Discount with most current incentives to save even more. To receive the GM College Discount, register at gmcollegediscount.com to obtain an authorization number.
GM Prepares Diesel V8 for 2010 Silverado and Sierra
PONTIAC, Michigan — General Motors is readying a V8 diesel engine that the company will offer for light-duty trucks, starting in 2010 with its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra.
The DuraMax 4.5-liter engine makes 310 horsepower and 520 pound-feet of torque and is expected to serve up fuel economy numbers 25 percent higher than comparable gasoline engines. GM says the narrow V-angle block allows the diesel to fit in any hole that currently accommodates a small-block V8 gas engine. That leaves GM with plenty of options for offering the diesel in other models such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban. Conceivably, the new DuraMax could even be shoehorned into a Corvette — but don’t bank on seeing that anytime soon.
The engine uses dual overhead cams and four valves per cylinder. Exhaust manifolds are integrated into the cylinder heads, while the intake manifolds are formed as part of the cam cover. A variable-vane turbocharger compresses intake air before it reaches the cylinder, and a 29,000-psi fuel system delivers the diesel.
“By using integral cylinder head exhaust manifolds, integral cam cover intake manifolds and a narrow cylinder block, designers saved space and reduced the engine’s weight. And because the engine makes more efficient use of heat, fuel economy and performance are enhanced, and noise and emissions are reduced,” said Gary Arvan, chief engineer for the 4.5-liter V8 diesel.
To tackle the tough new Tier 2 Bin 5 emissions standards, the DuraMax uses a particulate filter and selective catalytic converter that captures nitrogen-based emissions to burn them off later during an engine cycle.
What this means to you: Whether you want low-end torque or higher fuel economy, diesels definitely make sense in this application. — Eric Tingwall, Correspondent
Chevy right on target with Silverado hybrid
Scott Burgess: Product review
Truck sets the bar for other pickups trying to be environmentally friendly
I am a conservationist, not an environmentalist. I enjoy the outdoors, detest politics and like to fire guns. The few things I know about environmentalists are from their press releases.
Until now, no hybrid fit into my life. They are, for all intents and purposes, neat little suburban vehicles that collectively fail to express my inner ruggedness. Hybrids signify an emasculated version of our kinder, gentler and greener transportation future. They are what people drive to book club or take on weekend treks searching for antiques. Some call them chic machines, when, really, they’re just chick mobiles.
The 2009 Chevrolet Silverado hybrid cuts a new trail for pickups. It’s the real deal, man about town, call us producing, planet cooling, pickup truck. The control switches can handle a firm grip and big hands. They can be turned while wearing work gloves. Its imposing dual port grille and giant gold bow tie on a highway will scare a Toyota Prius into a ditch.
Save the Earth? Yeah, that’s just the way I roll; now let’s go shoot something.
Version runs quieter, cleaner
The first production gas-electric pickup by any carmaker, the hybrid Silverado rolls just as well as its gasoline brothers, just quieter, cheaper and cleaner.
The electric only mode at low speeds is silent, allowing you to cruise through Cabela’s parking lot on 18-inch low rolling resistance tires as if you’re stalking Bambi’s mom on Doe Day. You can get it up to 30 mph without burning a drop of gas.
No one would guess there’s a 332-horsepower 6-liter V-8 under the hood — and that power number doesn’t reflect the instant torque from the 300-volt motor inside the transmission.
While the exterior looks just like any other Chevy pickup, Chevrolet dots the shell with small green hybrid tags.
There are the optional big bold “HYBRID” signs scrawled across the bottom of the doors in case you missed the other badges. They are as subtle as a hunting vest.
Of course, a little recognition is nice. If you’re plugging ducks with a finely crafted Benelli 12 gauge, you don’t want people to think it’s just a Remington 870. How embarrassing. (No offense meant to the ever reliable Remington.)
Trucks are no different. If you’re going to spend $40,000 for a hybrid pickup — then people should know it’s special. My test vehicle topped $48,000, though Chevy points out a hybrid version of its most popular truck — a 1LT Crew Cab — starts at $38,995. Additionally, the hybrid premium is roughly $3,000 and there’s a $2,200 available federal tax credit.
So recouping the hybrid premium is feasible, especially if gas prices go up. I’m not an economist, but I’m guessing they will.
Engine shows green sophistication
The engine may sound big and burly when you hit the gas, but it’s no brute. It’s as sophisticated as a wetlands ecosystem. General Motors Corp.’s Active Fuel Management system can turn off four cylinders when cruising or the auto stop system can turn off the engine when stopped and restart when needed. The transition is not noticeable.
The electric motor also helps keep the AFM on longer, which provides better fuel economy.
By the numbers, the Silverado hybrid brings home the wild boar — and everything tastes better with boar.
There’s a 40 percent jump in fuel economy. This pickup gets 21 mpg in the city and 22 mpg on the highway for the two-wheel-drive version. The 4×4 hits 20/20. During my testing, I averaged 17.5 mpg in combination highway and city driving.
It can still tow up to 6,100 pounds and the bed can handle just more than 1,400 pounds.
My test vehicle included a removable tonneau cover, which easily pops off for serious work.
The Silverado hybrid includes an electrically variable transmission, which is perhaps the masterpiece to this vehicle’s powertrain. While there are four fixed gears inside, it electronically manipulates it and makes it feel like a six-speed tranny. It also has the ability to shut out the electric motors when its little computer brain determines the stress is too much — such as towing a boat up a steep hill. The electric launch is smooth and you can top 20 mph in electric only mode when towing if the batteries are fully charged. While the Silverado uses the same system as other hybrid GM vehicles, this system has been updated with new programming.
Chevy also smoothed out the Silverado’s ride with the addition of new hydraulic body mount. The improvement was so noticeable, GM put the mount on all of its pickups so no matter what you drive to the lodge, the road will feel smoother.
The only quibble I had with the truck’s performance was the brakes seemed too sensitive. However, after a few days of driving it, I quickly retrained myself to use the appropriate pressure. Like most hybrids, the Silverado uses regenerative braking to capture energy normally lost to heat to recharge the battery pack located under the second row of seats.
Losing a little space under the back seat is the only noticeable difference inside the Silverado hybrid.
The interior is clean and well laid out with lots of room for a hunting party. All of the features you’d expect remain, including the dual glove box, XM satellite radio (with XM traffic updates to the optional navigation system) and OnStar.
In upper left corner of the instrument panel, is an eco gauge, which is a little needle that moves to the right (bad) or to the left (good) depending on how friendly your boot is to the accelerator.
Really, I wanted more inside the cabin to remind me I was in a hybrid — other than the extremely quiet ride. But I certainly don’t need it and taking what you need is often better than what you want.
If people didn’t know better, they’d just assume it’s a luxury truck, which is about as good of a compliment as they can give it.
Pickups, much like their owners, place more importance on function than form. If they didn’t, pickups would look like sports cars.
Pickup drivers need a truck that can do the job at hand, whether towing a boat, hauling tools to a job site or carrying gear to the cabin up north.
Saving some gas is nice. It can put a few dollars for your pocket. But people don’t buy hybrids to just save a few bucks. They do it to help the environment; they do it for a greater social good that goes beyond their own windshield.
Helping Mother Earth today seems obvious to any conservationist like myself: The healthier our planet today, the more things to shoot tomorrow.
Scott Burgess is the auto critic for The Detroit News. He can be reached at (313) 223-3217 or sburgess@detnews.com.
GM introduces hybrid pickups: Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra
Full-size now comes in green
GM introduces hybrid pickups: Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Saturday, March 07, 2009
With all the buzz about gas-electric hybrid cars, I’ve heard plenty of exasperated people ask, “Why don’t they make hybrid pickups?”
The questioners might assume a hybrid pickup would get 30 or 40 miles per gallon, like a hybrid automobile. Numbers like those are unachievable with current technology, but a hybrid pickup capable of about 20 miles per gallon in urban commuting has just arrived.
Last week, I drove General Motors’ new two-mode hybrid half-ton pickups, sold as the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and GMC Sierra Hybrid in both two- and four-wheel drive. The Chevy and GMC are identical except for trim and styling differences and a $370 price premium for the GMC.
The EPA rates two-wheel drive versions at 21 city, 22 highway; four-wheel drive at 20 and 20. My test drives suggest those mileage numbers are achievable only when the trucks are driven very conservatively.
On a 75-mile loop through San Antonio, which included lots of turns and traffic lights, the GMC Sierra 4×4 that I tested delivered 18.9 mpg. I accelerated leisurely but kept up with traffic.
The truck, with three adults aboard, had no cargo, and a tonneau cover that comes standard on the hybrids protected the bed. A typical four-wheel drive crew-cab pickup with a conventional V-8 power train probably would yield mileage of 14 to 17 mpg in the same driving scenario.
Even driven normally, the hybrids should wring a couple of extra miles from a gallon, and certainly do so with far fewer tailpipe emissions. As I’ve written before, hybrid fuel mileage and emissions levels depend on driving style as much as they do the advanced technology power train.
Drivers intent on getting the best gas mileage are aided by a simple gauge with a needle that points right during efficient driving and to the left when the driver’s right foot gets heavy.
GM’s new pickups share the two-mode power trains with GM’s large hybrid SUVs. The system combines a six-liter V-8 engine, two electric motors, three planetary gear clusters and a 300-volt battery pack.
Developed by GM in concert with BMW and the former DaimlerChrysler, this impressive system is controlled by an onboard computer almost powerful enough to calculate additions to the national debt.
These hybrids are available only in Crew Cab configuration in two trim levels. The least expensive, which is actually quite well-equipped, is $38,995. An upper-trim hybrid with leather and navigation system is $45,130. Unfortunately, most potential buyers are shut out at these prices.
GM’s complex pricing strategy makes calculating the hybrid price premium over conventional trucks difficult, but the new hybrids seem to cost about $1,000 more than similarly equipped Silverados and Sierras. Dealers probably won’t discount the new hybrids as heavily as the regular trucks, if at all.
The hybrids are capable pickups, with 1,400-pound payloads, 6,100-pound towing capacities, room for four or five passengers, and no shortage of power. Aided by two 60-kilowatt motors when needed, the 332-horsepower V-8 engine accelerates and pulls as well or better than most conventionally powered trucks. It’s very torquey.
Fuel is saved because the electric assist can keep the V-8 from bearing the entire load. With gentle acceleration from a stop, the electric motor alone got my test truck rolling up to 15 to 20 mph. GM says 30 mph on electric is possible, but I couldn’t make it happen.
Like all hybrids, the gas engine shuts off when the truck stops, then restarts when needed. This alone saves gas, as does the hybrids’ electrically powered air-conditioning compressor and power steering pump, components typically driven by a vehicle’s gas engine.
Based on the trucks I drove, GM seems to have done an exceptional job insulating the occupants from the coarseness and noise of the big V-8 starting and stopping while the vehicle is under way, and from general road noise as well.
Power to charge the bank of nickel-metal hydride batteries, tucked under the rear seat, comes from the same electric motors that help motivate the truck. When the truck coasts and brakes, the motors reverse polarity and act as generators to reclaim the energy typically lost during deceleration.
Other strategies save fuel: Some truck components are made of especially light materials, the tires have a low rolling resistance (something to consider when replacing them), and four of the eight cylinders in the gas engine are shut down when the main computer senses easy, low-load cruising.
In his 27 years of writing a column for the Austin American-Statesman, Pete Szilagyi has driven more than 1,400 new cars and trucks.
According to Pet…
Target audience: Small-business owners, individuals and families hoping to save money on fuel and go green.
Highs: Power, smooth operation, fuel savings, cleaner emissions, comfort, cabin quietness.
Lows: No less-expensive models to entice fleet buyers and those unable to pay $40,000.
Bottom line: Probably the greenest full-size pickup on the planet.
EPA rating for greenhouse gas emissions (10 is best): 5
Chevy Nerf Bars
Best Selection of >>Chevy Silverado Nerf Bars.<<
Looking to customize your truck? Chevy Nerf bars are the way to go. I just bought a 2007 Chevy Silverado and I was looking for a way to keep that ruff rugged look and still keep it stylish, yet original. After a lot of thinking I found that Nerf bars were the things I’ve been looking for.
For those of you, who aren’t familiar with Nerf bars, don’t be embarrassed I used to be one. Nerf bars are the stainless steel or chrome bars mounted on the side of a vehicle, to act as a step in or out. Nerf bars can also help prevent damage to your vehicles body as well as interior, being the outdoorsy person that I am protecting the body of my vehicle, was an eye catcher. Whenever we go out 4×4ing I’m always worried about scratching my truck with all the big rocks during those tight turns. But my Nerf bars saved the body of my Silverado and kept it looking new.
Nerf bars are also known as step bars, side tubes and running boards, not to be confused they all do the same job. Nerf Bars mount easily in minutes with no drilling of any kind to a minimal amount of drilling. Nerf bars are strong, sturdy and easy to maintain. Nerf bars can also protect the side of your vehicle from those (inconsiderate people) swinging doors. With Nerf bars there is no need to park miles away from other vehicles to avoid unwanted dents and dings.
With Nerf bars you’re protected. Nerf bars can also protect the inside of your vehicle from unwanted dirt and grim. This is basically the one that sold me. I have two young boys who are always stomping in the mud, with my new Nerf bars a dirty carpet is the least of my problems. All they have to do is step up on to the Nerf bars at ease and gently dust off their feet.
Reference.com/encylopedia, Dictionary.com
I searched everywhere for those perfect Chevy Nerf bars, till I came across a great site where I had questions no more. I found useful information and many options to choose from, to fit my style. Now my Chevy Silverado not only new and original, it’s customized just for me. So when you decide to update your Chevy check out http://www.NERFBARSrus.com and see what they can do for you.
For more information about Chevy nerf bars check out NERFBARSrus.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_Noone
Chevy Silverado Pictures