At this point, the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana are no longer just vans. They’re fixtures, a shape almost every American pictures when they hear the phrase “white van.” They’ve been in production long enough to culturally supersede the Ford Econoline and the GMC Vandura, and that means they’re usually pretty safe bets.
General Motors has made one generation of these workhorses for the past 30 years, and they haven’t even received facelifts since 2003. There are still parts they share with trucks that exited production nearly 20 years ago, which means that most of the major kinks have been ironed out. Sure, they’ve been given updated engines as time’s gone on, but a door from a 2003 model will bolt straight onto a 2026 model.
Just because GM knows how to build them, however, doesn’t mean that occasional lapses can’t happen upstream. Indeed, that’s what we’re looking at here, a case of a minor slip-up at the factory that builds an important sub-assembly. Not the differential or the engine management system or the heater matrix, but the old-school column-mounted shifter. As the recall report states:
A component within the steering column transmission control may be out of specification, which could allow unintended movement between the column shifter and the transmission control. This movement may create slack or excessive tension in the shift cable, potentially impairing the cable’s ability to engage the intended transmission gear.
Ah yes, I can see how that may be a problem. Even though the gear selector indicator in the instrument cluster is said to display the correct gear, thinking you’re in park but actually being in reverse could result in a runaway van, much to the chagrin of anything behind the vehicle. Plant pots, fences, fruit stands, conveniently placed cardboard boxes, giant panes of glass carried by a worker on either end … you know the drill.
Thankfully, nobody seems to have learned about this defect the hard way. The recall report states that it was discovered via the supplier reporting it, and that “GM is not aware of any field incidents or complaints associated with this condition.” Of course, it probably helps that the pool of affected vehicles is amusingly small. We’re talking 199 Chevrolet Express vans and 33 GMC Savana vans built between Feb. 11 and Feb. 16. That’s only 232 vans. A huge number to stick in one Home Depot parking lot but an entirely inadequate quantity should you wish to, say, recreate Woodstock.
While the fix is a new complete steering column assembly, GM already has the parts. Possibly because it’s been unchanged for absolute ages. Even though it’s been a while since I last poked around the oily bits of an Express van, this fix should be done in a single day. The time out of service sucks, but at least turnaround on the whole issue should be swift. If you happen to own one of the affected Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans, expect a letter about the matter in the post by July 13. That’s less than a month from now. Hey, sometimes perfection takes a day off. At least it’ll be easy to mend.
Top graphic image: Chevrolet
It’s like a down-market Ford Transit!
(Seriously though, why didn’t Ford just sell the Transit in the US?)
Lots of comments on missing the column shifter. I never hated them and enjoyed the space affording in a 6 seat crown Vic thanks to the column shifter. However in a truck, the manual transmissions offered more control and often more reliability. As for today, most everything is electronically controlled, so a dial or push button on the dash makes more sense.
I had a friend who worked at a place that did conversions on vans.
They amount of ‘fixing’ they did to the vans coming in was disconcerting. Makes me wonder what dealerships see during their PDI.
What do you mean by ‘fixing’?
Windows that didn’t work, removing trash hidden behind door cards, speakers not connected, etc…
Ahh, the joys of keeping old tooling up and operational. Some bean counter decided that it didn’t need refurbishing. Now they get to pay to refurbish the tools and pay GM for the warranty work.
That column shifter was a work of art. Such a satisfying “shhclunk” letting the handle fall into the detent. You didn’t even look at the dash because you just counted detents to the correct gear.
GM is still making them because their margins are mind-boggling insane, close to 90%. They probably cost $5000 to manufacture and their base model is selling for $50,000. The head unit is even cheaper than before; it has neither CD nor cassette, replaced with a $0.05 bluetooth chip ($200 option).
(HAAAAWK)
(Spit)
Back when these vans first came out a loose shifter was just used van character that came on a new vehicle.
Just makes me wish the Crown Vic were still soldiering on. Like Ford finally offered a non-V8 version for fuel economy and lazily tacked a screen on it (hey, that worked for the current Mustang), but kept the underpinnings largely the same.
My understanding was it couldn’t pass upcoming side impact standards without major re-engineering, which Ford didn’t want to pay to do on a 30 year old body shell, there were some revisions to FMVSS 214 that phased in around 2011/2012 that were impossible for a body that debuted in 1991 for the 1992 Grand Marquis to meet as-is. Being a light truck instead of a passenger car, the Express/Savanna doesn’t have to meet as stringent safety standards
Perhaps an answer would have been to just keep adding thick metal plates to the Crown Vic’s floor pan until the GVWR got high enough, like what Cross Lander USA planned to do for the ARO 24
There were plans for a twin turbo V6 Crown Vic, maybe it would have gotten the GCC tri blade grille too.
that engine lived on in the VPG MV1 welcab, interestingly enough
When we bought our GMC in 23′ these Van’s had a year wait at our local dealer. People who like them, really like them. Know a guy who got the Quigly 4×4 on it and its really something else.
I remember back in the 70’s when certain Ford and GM automatics were perpetually out of synch with what was displayed on the column.
“They all do that”
That was just part of the Malaise Era “mystique.” You didn’t bother to look at the shift pointer on the dashboard. You just went by pulling the (overly loose, straight from the factory) column shifter through the detents.
The good ones were the older Ford column shift automatics, that had the little window mounted on the column itself with the indicator cast right into the rotating ring that the shifter mounted to. Those were dirt-simple and never fell out of adjustment.
I do love the clunk of an old column shifter. When I go from one of those to the new electronic ones I feel like I’m going to rip that plastic handle off.
Which begs the question, why even bother? At first, I thought the shift knob that Rams have was lame, but when I realized that they’re all just electric switches anyway, the knob made more sense as it seems to take up the least real estate and be an easier part to replace, if necessary.
I agree, and ergonomically that knob seems to work better than some of the other things out there that you click forward.
It’s definitely better than the weird electronic console shifter the WK2 Grand Cherokees had. I borrowed my sister’s once, and it took a minute to figure it out. I’m sure you get used to it, but it wasn’t very intuitive.
I had a 70’s squarebody pickup as a kid, the display never worked. It was pretty much a string that moved the indicator as you moved the lever, it would just break. My dad figured out how to fix it, and it lasted a whole 2 weeks before it broke again. I just learned to count the detents; it quickly became second nature just by feel.
That is a preferable problem to the King of Recalls Fords whose 318 V-8 in the E-350SD and so many other vehicles had a tendency to spit out spark plugs like popcorn on most of these due to the use of short plugs and Ford not only never recalled them but wouldn’t cover them because the plugs were the recommended ones and it wasn’t happening in all of them.
I do miss my AWD Chevy Express.
Damn thing had ~275k miles on when I sold it, it lived a very hard life, and it was on its original powertrain..even the 4L60E was original to it…which was pretty shocking.
Hey now. The E-series is still being made, or at least the front end is.
I’m assuming that if it happened in the field, the rental driver just assumed that because it was a rental, you had to be rougher with it and slammed it into place.