GMC and Saturn defect petition DP12003
Loss of Headlamp Illumination. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this defect petition about the headlights on 6 model years (2007–2009). Opened Jun 4, 2012, closed Jul 24, 2014 after 2.1 years without a recall. closed
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedAs of July 16, 2014, out of a population of 248,453 subject vehicles, NHTSA received 473 consumer complaints of inoperative head lamp. Many of these complaints indicated that the head lamp harness suffered damage from overheating. After reviewing the complaints, ODI found: -69% (328) alleged that a single head lamp was inoperative. -18% (86) alleged that both head lamps were inoperative but not at the same time. -9% (41) alleged that both head lamps were inoperative but the complaints did not indicate whether the failures had occurred at the same time. -4% (17) alleged that both head lamps were inoperative at the same time. -One additional complaint cited wire harness damage to both sides but did not specify an outage -No crashes or loss of vehicle control were reported. -Any alleged thermal damages were limited to melting of the head lamp harness and the head lamp housing. -A head lamp would intermittently fail to come on or flickers before becoming completely inoperative. For the seventeen complaints that alleged simultaneous failure of both head lamps while attempting to turn them on or while driving, the head lamp failures likely had occurred one at a time. The subject vehicle's head lamps are connected in a parallel circuit and each circuit is fused. Therefore, failure of one head lamp or its harness should not affect the other head lamp operation. Over the last 25 years, ODI has opened numerous defect investigations of the loss of headlamp illumination. Investigations that resulted in safety recalls involved simultaneous loss of illumination from both headlamps. NHTSA does not consider the loss of a single headlamp as presenting an unreasonable safety risk-such failures are readily detectable by the driver while allowing the vehicle to retain forward visibility and conspicuity from the remaining headlamp. There is typically enough time between the failure of the first headlamp and the second during which the vehicle operator can obtain the needed repairs. Based on the information currently available, NHTSA does not believe that the headlamp condition as alleged by the petitioner indicates the likelihood of a safety-related defect that would warrant a formal investigation. Therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA's limited resources to best accomplish the agency's safety mission, the petition is denied. Further specifics can be found in the Federal Register Notice ODI complaint ID numbers are referenced on the next page.
A Defect Petition is a petition from a member of the public asking NHTSA to open a defect investigation; the agency grants or denies it and publishes the reasons. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the opening and closing resumes with the full reasoning are on NHTSA’s site under this number.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one closed without a recall. That means NHTSA found no defect trend it chose to act on at the time, or the manufacturer addressed the condition another way (a service campaign or a bulletin, which have their own pages). A closed file can be reopened if new reports arrive.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named: 2007 GMC Acadia; 2008 GMC Acadia; 2009 GMC Acadia; 2007 Saturn Outlook; 2008 Saturn Outlook; 2009 Saturn Outlook.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs DP12003 a recall?
No. A defect petition is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Is DP12003 still open?
No. It closed on Jul 24, 2014 without a recall.
Which vehicles does DP12003 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 6 model years: 2007 GMC Acadia, 2008 GMC Acadia, 2009 GMC Acadia, 2007 Saturn Outlook, 2008 Saturn Outlook, 2009 Saturn Outlook. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.