[nosrettap58]

Date: September 11, 2008

To: Dealer Operator and New Vehicle Sales Manager

Subject: Discontinuance of Heated Windshield Washer Fluid System (Option XA7 or CHW)

Please be advised that effective immediately GM will no longer make available the Heated Windshield Washer Fluid System (option XA7 or CHW) on any GM Vehicle. Therefore, the following criteria will apply:

·Vehicles previously ordered and built with this feature (XA7 or CHW) that are in-transit will be delivered with this option.

·Orders currently in-system (event 30-38) will have this option (XA7 or CHW) deleted and the appropriate credit applied.
oOn vehicles / merchandising models where the feature is standard equipment the credit will be applied to the base price and the Monroney Label will include a notation that the feature has been deleted.
oOn vehicles / merchandising models where the feature is included in a Option Package, the credit will be applied to the package price and the feature excluded from the description.

·All ordering materials (guides / configurators) will be updated accordingly.


The affected vehicle lines include:

·Buick: Enclave, Lucerne
·Cadillac: CTS, DTS, Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade EXT
·Chevrolet: Tahoe, Suburban, Avalanche, Silverado, Traverse
·GMC: Acadia, Yukon, Denali, Yukon XL, Denali XL, Sierra, Sierra Denali
·Hummer: H2
·Saturn: Outlook

[JOliver]

That's very odd. Dropping the option entirely for every vehicle that offers it. Interesting...

[nosrettap58]

GM recall sinks supplier Microheat
Robert Sherefkin
and David Barkholz
Automotive News | October 7, 2008 - 11:53 am EST
DETROIT -- Fallout from a massive General Motors recall has sunk a promising young technology company, Microheat
Inc.
Microheat, which makes a hot-spray windshield washer, has ceased most production and is operating with a skeleton staff
at its suburban Detroit headquarters.
In September, GM recalled about 944,000 vehicles equipped with Microheat’s HotShot system because of concerns over
electrical fires.
GM wants Microheat to pay between $20 million and $25 million for the projected cost of the recall, according to court
documents.
Microheat sued GM last month after the carmaker allegedly withheld payments for product shipped in July, August and
September. Microheat says GM owes the supplier more than $3.7 million for the parts, tooling and other charges,
according to court documents.
Microheat CEO Ron Gardhouse declined to comment on the situation. An employee said a skeleton staff was winding
down operations.
The GM recall affects more than a dozen of the company’s most expensive vehicles equipped with the hot-spray washer.
The vehicles, from the 2006 through 2008 model years, include the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado and Suburban
and Buick Enclave.
In its recall notice, GM told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that a short circuit on the printed circuit
board of the washer-fluid heater could overheat the control-circuit ground wire. To fix the problem free of charge, dealers
will install a wire harness with an inline fuse, GM said.

[Nargg]

My Dad told me about this recall on his 2007 3/4 ton P/U. Too bad they just killed it rather than simply install the fuses. Sounds like a very minor issue that was solved with a hugh mistake. They should have ruggedized the electronics anyway, this is nothing new. Oh well.