Brake Interlock screwup....again! A warning to others.

[FlaAveo5]

Hey. Just wanted to post what happened to me, yet again. Last year it happened and it was a $15 part, and cost like $500 to put in! Today it was just the part, and I HAD to go to the parts dept. Buy it, and got it installed in 5 mins! FREE! The stupid' brake/shift interlock'. The 1 year warranty of course JUST ran out...3 weeks ago! I tried to get my 2006 Aveo out of park and the interlock was broken yet again. It broke 3 times last year..and 3 weeks ago. Talk about planned obsolescence.

So of course the 'warranty' is gone. By 3 weeks! I called my local Chevy dealer where i had it put in ,and had the shirt assembly replaced as well, 1 year and like 5 months ago, and asked if the warranty was still good on this interlock thing, I knew thats what it was. AND surprise, it was 3 weeks out of warranty! I freaked, I managed to get up to them, and my service adviser told me if i would go buy the part at the parts dept, he would have service put it in , for free! SHOCK!

Well sure enough it took all of 5 mins to do, and it was free. The part is now $16.48. But the 'quality' of the part is SO low it is incredible! It says AC Delco on the box, but it says 'Made in the Republic of Korea' on the box~! It aint made in Japan, thats for sure. It lasted like 2K miles. Thats it! Talk about crap parts. No wonder I spent money like I grwoing it on trees last year, when i had it. The part looks like a tiny plunger on one end, and a fuse on the other?

Since it was locking me out of shifting, and i had to use the emergency release hole, on the shifter assembly to unlock it, to make it move, i KNEW what it was. SO no diagnosis. So no $500 'diagnosis'. And sure enough it was this stupid part. I wish i knew where it was, it is under the steering wheel someplace, I should buy a few extras and keep them in the car, since they break so fast, then I can unplug it and plug in a new one, the next time it happens.

Just wanted to post this warning for others with the automatic and this shift lockout on it. Hell my sister just bought a new Cruze, loaded to the hilt! And it has the 'shift lock out' to, and that 'emergency hole' next to the shifter. So...GM plans for it to break, they cant build a transmission to save their lives! They build in the planned obsolescence....talk about GM quality!

[outdoorsaddix]

1) $500 Diag? You really need to find a new dealer, they are not all created equal

2) Every automatic transmission vehicle going as far back as I can remember has a shifter lockout so you can't move the car out of park if the key is not in the "run" position as a safety feature and by extension every car has a override hole somewhere in some form or another in case the car has to be towed and there is no key available, not because they are planning for it to break.

3) I have never heard of anyone else having an issue with this part and I certainly haven't and my Aveo is 10 years old this year. I would bet that there is something else out of whack in your system causing the part to break prematurely, I would look into hunting down what that cause is.

4) Just an FYI your whole car was built in Korea, its basically a Daewoo sporting a Chevy bowtie.

[FlaAveo5]

1) $500 Diag? You really need to find a new dealer, they are not all created equal

2) Every automatic transmission vehicle going as far back as I can remember has a shifter lockout so you can't move the car out of park if the key is not in the "run" position as a safety feature and by extension every car has a override hole somewhere in some form or another in case the car has to be towed and there is no key available, not because they are planning for it to break.

3) I have never heard of anyone else having an issue with this part and I certainly haven't and my Aveo is 10 years old this year. I would bet that there is something else out of whack in your system causing the part to break prematurely, I would look into hunting down what that cause is.

4) Just an FYI your whole car was built in Korea, its basically a Daewoo sporting a Chevy bowtie.

i know its a Daewoo.....i still see Daewoos Lanos' on the road that look like they just were built! So they must last. But this is a GM Daewoo combo....its GM 'quality' that sucks.
Havent seen a Plymouth/Chrysler 'Aires' or a 'Breeze', or Neon, in years. If i could disable that lock out feature i would do it in a flash. It is a dumb feature. I disabled the daytime running light feature, now i havent had to replace my headlight bulb in over 2 years! Use to be every 6 months. Course now i have replaced the entie headlight units with new clear ones, with blackout backs,the plastic lens of course got WAY to cloudy for me,. and all the 'restore' products i used did little. Just posted this to warn others. IF i find out where this fuse/plunger thing is located, i will invest in 2 of them,and keep them in my glovebox.

[PoisonIvy]

I agree with Outdoorsaddix. There has to be another reason your car is chewing these parts up. I'm not familiar with what type of shift interlock system our cars have, but it must be at least partly mechanical, if not completely mechanical. Maybe the cable is allowing too much travel and is pulling further on the switch then it should? And eventually it breaks.

[FlaAveo5]

it is a rather big switch/plunger that moves when you step on the brakes. It is mechanical on one end ,like a tiny plunger,and looks like a fuse on the other. It lasted 1 year and 1 week,one week past its 'warranty'. Before that it lasted 8 years. so it isnt 'eating them up'. First it was the entire shirfter assembly on the floor, over $400, for 'diagnosis and shifter replacement;, then a month later it was this 'switch/reply', $15. Had they replaced both at the same time, they wouldnt have had to 'diagnosis' the problem again, when it locked up a month later. I just posted this to let others now that IF there automatic trans. locks up on them...ask to have this fuse/relay replaced FIRST,for $15, THEN if that doesnt work, go for a 'diagnosis'. It could save someone $400-500 on a $15 repair.

[2010AveoLT]

i know its a Daewoo.....i still see Daewoos Lanos' on the road that look like they just were built! So they must last. But this is a GM Daewoo combo....its GM 'quality' that sucks.
Havent seen a Plymouth/Chrysler 'Aires' or a 'Breeze', or Neon, in years. If i could disable that lock out feature i would do it in a flash. It is a dumb feature. I disabled the daytime running light feature, now i havent had to replace my headlight bulb in over 2 years! Use to be every 6 months. Course now i have replaced the entie headlight units with new clear ones, with blackout backs,the plastic lens of course got WAY to cloudy for me,. and all the 'restore' products i used did little. Just posted this to warn others. IF i find out where this fuse/plunger thing is located, i will invest in 2 of them,and keep them in my glovebox.

they're out there; most of the ones up north in the Salt belt have succumbed to Tin Worm/Metal Cancer; then you have ones that have blown their Engine or Transmission Sky High.....


this '98 has a Blown 2.0L engine, but also has over 200K on it. it also happens to be MINE.

[FlaAveo5]

Been a while since i looked at this post. i USE to get a notice to my email when someone replied...but havent gotten any notices in over a year! Anyway, the $500 repair was replacing the entire floor shifter, about $200, the $16 brake interlock part, (that they replaced for free this past time and took 2 mins. to do), at 1 year and 3 weeks, ...just past its 1 year warranty of course,.... and some other part to put in the new shifter assembly, and of course the 'environmental disposal fees', so the total came to $500 or so. Didnt mean to make it sound like the $16 part cost $500 to put in or diagnosis. I assume that this brake interlock part keeps breaking because it is all plastic crap of course, and since I am constantly parking, shifting out of park, parking, shifting out of park, then valets park it when I do drive, I HAVE to valet, no choice or I cant go to work, and they back it up onto those cement parking bumpers things, and it takes all my strength to get it out of park! It must put alot of stress on the trans-axle/brakes or something. I have told them to stop doing this to my car! But I might as well talk to a wall. Next time I will have their boss try to move it, if they do it again, and show him it is being done, and it might be the cause of this repair!! And they will pay for it, if they do it again. Its just GM/Korean 'quality'. Anyway....hope that explains the $500 'diagnosis'.