Rear trailing arm snapped on my two week old Yukon Denali. Pics and story

[JP Manor]

Wife was making a right turn at about 5 mph leaving her mothers house today and heard a loud noise from under the car and said the car started shaking and making noise. Was loud enough to wake up and upset our newborn daughter in the rear car seat. She pulled over because she thought she must have hit something, but looked around and saw only a flat tire so she pulled over and called me. I got to the scene soon after and noticed that the wheel was pushed all the way back into the fender and I knew something wasn't right.. I looked under the car and I couldn't believe my eyes... Had it towed on a flatbed to the dealer.. Dealer couldn't believe it either and said they've never seen anything like this but assured me they'll take care of it..

So weird.. What do you guys think could be the cause of this??

 

[iamdub]

What popped the tire? It's on the right side and she was making a right hand turn- could she have hit a curb or something? I'd think that something to rip out the end of the arm would have required a hard enough hit that there would be damage to the wheel, but maybe if it was a direct head-on hit to the wheel?

 

[JP Manor]

My first thought was that she he hit a curb, but quickly realized there are no curbs in this neighborhood.. I'm thinking maybe the sharp part of the arm that broke off punctured the tire, but I'll know more in the morning when I go back to the dealer to take a closer look.

 

[massivespl]

Looks like a hole in the sidewall on the second letter E in the word dueler on the tire.

 

[JP Manor]

Ah. I see that now. Very strange. Assuming the tire was flat when she drove off, how could that damage to the arm occur at low speed a block away?

 

[Yukon John]

I'm guessing she hit a pothole or something in the road hard enough to puncture the tire but not damage the rim. Admittedly...it had to be a unique group of circumstanced to rip the trailing arm from the axle. These vehicle go through a tremendous amount of dynamic testing to expose any weakness in design. Perhaps there is defective metallurgy at fault here at the trailing arm/axle connection. This is a strange case for sure!!

I suggest you have a GM Zone rep look at this and push to get the entire rear axle assembly replaced. From the way the photos show it, the entire rear axle assembly is twisted out of alignment and the trailing arm/axle connection on the left side may have been compromised as well.

Good luck with this...let us know how this turns out.

 

[benski]

Strange indeed. Maybe a defective from the factory part? By all means, have everything back there looked at VERY carefully or replaced outright. If this had happened at 50 mph, your outcome may have been much worse.

 

[JP Manor]

Went and saw the service manager this morning.. He basically said, "The big boss needs to take a look at this one, We'll keep you updated"

Really hoping this doesn't turn into a debacle but I'm confident GM will resolve this properly. Will keep you updated.

 

[JP Manor]

Just got a call from service... Told me that they have determined that the damage is not a "GM warranty issue" and to contact my insurance company...

And here we go!

 

[massivespl]

Just got a call from service... Told me that they have determined that the damage is not a "GM warranty issue" and to contact my insurance company...

And here we go!

If it's just a tire and trailing arm no need for insurance. Just fix it yourself for like $300

And from that second picture it looks like the tire on the inner edge has some cupping/chopping going on... That trailing arm was prly broke for awhile or something ain't right cuz that tire should look cupped... It could be just the picture or because it's flat though