Forum Member’s High-Speed Driveline Issue Blurs Lemon Laws and State Laws

If a quality issue is encountered at speeds higher than those recommended by the state, should you just have to live with it?

This is a really tough one to figure out. The catch-22 of all catch-22’s. Lets say you’re enjoying the deeper end of the throttle on your new C7 Corvette and discover a loud noise emanating from the drive-line. Speed has a tendency of being very effective at amplifying an issue, so naturally you’d think a trip to the dealership would be the right call.

That’s where things take a turn for the worse, though, as CorvetteForum user KeithFl had problems arise after the initial 500 mile oil change. Metal scraping drive-line noises from his 8-speed automatic Corvette took nearly a month to fix by a local Chevrolet dealer. But the noise continued, albeit only at higher speeds near 80 miles per hour.

Upon taking the car back to the dealership, the sound was shrugged off, mostly due to the fact the noise came at a speed above any local speed limit. Rightly so, the dealership said it was unsafe, and unlawful for a mechanic to drive at those speeds. Claimed on-board video from the Corvette’s PDR show the car being test driven at 90 miles per hour with the noise very obvious. Still, the dealership seemingly wanted nothing to do with the car.

ALSO SEE: What the Forum Has to Say About This

If you’re wondering whether Chevrolet reps were contacted, they allegedly were. In KeithFl’s initial post, he’d indicated there was a possibility of the Corvette being bought back, but as soon as the issue occurred at 80 miles per hour, they “wiped their hands of it.”

After a bit of mitigation, pursuit of lemon laws ultimately were dropped, but would you hire a lawyer to fix an issue like this, or would you take KeithFL’s stance and live with it? We ask: Shouldn’t a Corvette be built to sustain high-speed, even though it is frowned upon by police? Chime in with your opinion in the forum.

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