Last chance to use the GAS TANK SETTLEMENT certificate

[AirMale]

It expires this weekend
Well I guess I'll take a ride to the dealership and see if they got any deals.

[78chevstepside]

I used mine 2 years ago. Having owned my 78 stepside since 1980 you think it would have been easy to get that certificate. that wasnt so. I spent 6 months getting that certificate.Spent another 3 weeks fighting with the dealership to write the check. I had a IOU from them. The deal was have the certificate ( I had the paper but no certificate)and show us the title . We will write a check for the 1000 dollars gas tank settlement. The dealership wanted me to get the money from headquarters. I called customer service after 3 weeks and complained. This must of rattled some chains. I got a call from the chevy dealer come pick up your check. I pull up in the new 02 blazer extreme my wife just bought. He asks why we didnt buy the blazer from him. Well i told him if you wernt such a cheapskate and gave me my thousand dollars when i bought the silverado here 6 months ago. I would have. I couldnt beleive he had the balls to ask. I love my 02 silverado 1500 extended cab lt 5.3(no piston slap) heated leather seats . anyone else use there certificate?
Or have trouble getting the ceretificate?

[Russell]

Is this valid in Canada?

I could use 1000 dollars, lol

[SixthFloorFreak]

someone care to explain?

[brad2]

I never got one and I have owned mine since 1984.

[TIMSPEED]

I got something in the mail for that a while back...as I read it, the $1000 was only good towards the purchase of a NEW chevy vehicle (Great, they're giving me $1000 towards a $25k vehicle, wow...)

[Jason Spears]

My father checked into this and this offer was never made in Canada.

[Mike76251]

No way I would have used it.................#1.It would mean you couldn't sue if something happened.
#2.$1000 off full retail?
I would think about it if it was $15,000 off which is still more than anything with OBDII or OBDIII is worth.

[8t5Silverado]

Is this certificate only for the original owner?

I just got my truck last July and I am the third owner. Am I eligible for a certificate?

Are they still available?

[greenhorn male]

I found this sight that talks about the side saddle tanks, the hazards, number of deaths, class action law suites,etc. One of the links on this sight claims there is a fix available. Has anyone fixed their tanks with the available retrofit this sight talks about?

http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=&did=360

[Lynx]

All the fix is, is a metal or plastic shield. In my opinion all it does is create a place for dirt and water to get stuck and rust out the tank. If you want a real fix you need to either install a blazer take out back between the frame, or a fuel cell.

my .02

Ben

[arveetek]

The settlement was for owners of the "explosive" trucks who had owned the truck prior to a specific date. I forget when that was, but this all happened several years ago. Way too late to do anything about it now.

I opted for the $150 cash settlement instead, but never received the money. Apparently it got hung up in appeals, and will probably never be released.

I've known a lot of people who used the $1000 off the new vehicle purchase, though.

[greenhorn male]

Originally posted by Lynx
All the fix is, is a metal or plastic shield. In my opinion all it does is create a place for dirt and water to get stuck and rust out the tank. If you want a real fix you need to either install a blazer take out back between the frame, or a fuel cell.

my .02

Ben

An initial feasibility study has been conducted under contract with Biokinetics, and Associates, Ltd. a research institution in Ottawa, Canada. Several alternative modifications were investigated. These include the following:

1- Removal or mitigation of sharp and aggressive surfaces to that may contribute to fuel tank puncture. These include the seat belt anchorage bolts, the fuel tank support bracket bolts, and the brake line support clamps.

2- Replace existing tank with a plastic tank that may be more puncture resistant.

3- Installation of protective shield around existing tank to reduce side intrusion.

4- Replace existing tank with a fuel cell containing a fuel bladder.

5- Remove existing tank and install a commercially available or a specially fabricated tank inside the frame forward of the rear axle.

6- Remove existing tank and install a commercially available tank inside the frame behind the rear axle.

7- Remove existing tank and install a commercially available tank in the cargo bed.

[greenhorn male]

STATEMENT ON RETROFITS FOR GM FIREBOMB PICKUPS
CLARENCE M. DITLOW, CAS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

At Last a Remedy But GM Continues to Stonewall After All These Year



In the Fall of 1972 GM went against the advice of its engineers, against 40 years of industry recognized safety practices, against the safer designs of its competitors and introduced the 1973 C/K pickup with side saddle gas tanks outside the frame. Safe fuel system design is not complex; it's good engineering. Anyone who survives the trauma of a crash should not burn to death. That very recommendation was made to GM's top management in 1972. At the same time Edward Ivey did a cost benefit analysis for GM that concluded it was worth only $2.20 per vehicle in additional cost to prevent a fire death. At the same time, GM design engineers repeatedly recommended placing the fuel tank inside the frame or at least add shields but these recommendations were ignored because GM management placed sales over safety as Transportation Secretary Pena observed in initially determining GM's side saddle pickups to be defective. The tragic story of how GM rejected one engineering recommendation after another for safer fuel tank design from Alexander Mair's put the tank "as near the center of the vehicle as practical" to George Kendro's various inside the frame designs to Mair's $23 shield as "a probable easy fix" are documented in our report. When asked in a video deposition if he could name a worse place to put a fuel tank than outside the frame rail on the side, Mr. Ivey responded: "Well, yes. You could put it on the front bumper."

Under the class action settlement, plaintiff's counsel did what GM was unwilling to do - fund a one million dollar independent research project under the direction of Dr. Kennerly Digges, a former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official, at Automotive Safety Research Institute (ASRI). Dr. Digges and ASRI did what GM refused to do and what DOT would not order - develop a safer fuel tank for the 4 million GM Firebomb pickups still on the road. In its defect investigation, NHTSA demonstrated that in a 50 mph angled side impact from a 4000# Chevrolet Caprice, the fuel tank of a C/K pickup would fail as shown in this video. Dr. Digges conducted a series of similar crash test of different fuel tanks using the 50 mph, 4000# Chevrolet Caprice test and determined an inside-the-frame fuel tank that was 50% thicker than the GM outside-the-frame tank and which had shielded steel fuel lines, and a filler neck check valve would readily pass the 50 mph, 4000# Chevrolet Caprice test as shown in this video.

The class action settlement also wisely provides a portion (up to $5) of every coupon sold by the Certificate Redemption Group up to $4 million must be allocated to ASRI to secure the mass production and distribution of a successful retrofit for the side saddle fuel tanks on the C/K pickups. By filing its appeal, GM has delayed mass production of the fuel tank.

People are dying while GM is delaying. By not honoring the class action certificates, GM is denying pickup owners access to technology that could save their lives. Hundreds of lives could have been saved if GM had followed the advice of its engineers years ago to install safe fuel systems. Instead, GM placed sales over safety and people died. Today, GM continues to place profits over safety and more people will die. We call on GM to stop the stonewalling, honor the class action certificates and authorize its dealers to install the ASRI retrofit tanks in its Rolling Firebombs."

[8t5Silverado]

Did they ever offer a replacemtent tank?

How hard is it to install a blazer tank on a lwb?