Hello to all. I am new here but I have some information that other people might find useful.
I have a 2015 Buick Enclave. This is my 2nd Enclave and my 13th GM product.I traded my 2012 Enclave in because, while it was still in warranty, the AC had gone out on it and I liked the new styling of the 2015 Enclave.

Here is the problem;

My AC condenser has a hole in it. Where it is located, the bumper cover is open to any road debris that you might run into. Now let me say this, my Buick dealer is the best in the nation in my opinion, but this is not a warranty item and they have to charge me for the repair.I feel that because of the design of the bumper cover, it allows anything that might come off the road to hit this condenser. I called GM CustomerCare (that was a very frustration and bad situation) and they told me that I was out of luck and no help would be forthcoming. I have been a loyal GM customer all my life and have only owned 2 cars that were not GM, but that does not seem to get you anywhere with GM. I realize that this is not a warranty issue, but I do think it is a design flaw. I have found at least 8 others that have had this exact same thing happen to them. If I can find 8, then I wonder what the real number is of people that have had this happen to them. I am not expecting GM to be responsible for road debris, but I do expect them to make right something that could easily have been avoided by a little aluminum screen, or a different design all together.

I guess the thing that I find most off putting is the way that GM customer care just didn't seem to care about one of the people who has been loyal. It makes me rethink my keeping loyal to a company that has no care for their customers.

I have said my piece. Thank you for any of y'all that have read this. If anyone has had a similar situation, let me know.I'd be interested to hear your situation.

My 1997 LeSabre has the same concern, and I seem to see a lot of vehicles with the way-down-low hidden-ish opening facing straight forward from cooling fins. I used to think "no big deal" but just looked at my 70,000 mile transmission cooler and the bottom two inches of fins have been flattened, probably by a zillion little bits of things slowly working their magic. I hadn't thought about something puncturing it (much) until your post.

I can sort of understand where GM is coming from not covering it. Sort of. Seems like something they could fix or reduce (with style) by adding a grate to that opening. A la 1973 Buick LeSabre/Centurion/Electra/Estate'* below-bumper chin grate.

Anyways, in response to my smashed fins, I've decided to get some 3/4" hail screen, put two layers of it (offset so intersections of one layer end up in the center of squares of the other layer), mount it inside the bumper cover (contoured to fit nicely in the opening as the factory may have done had they spent the extra $0.69), and rattle-can it flat black.

Then I'll straighten the fins on the transmission cooler and the condenser.

I figure this will still give me good air flow, will deflect a bunch of the little stuff (and yes allow some through), and stop or at least catch the big stuff.

It occurs to me that when some junk gets caught by this thing I'll have a car that looks like it has dirty teeth. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Perhaps you can do something similar to your Enclave?

My first thought was to also put some sort of mesh in the opening, in front of the radiator.

This type of issue is typically covered under your comprehensive insurance coverage however, which, depending on how your policy is configured, may be worth looking in to, especially if there is a paper trail, documenting where the impact is, and diagnosis from the dealership.

I agree that I could make a claim on my insurance, but why should I? This is a design issue that I don't think I should have to pay for. If I make an insurance claim I will be paying more for insurance in the long run than the over a grand that it cost me yesterday.


GM should step up on this issue. I am a very loyal GM buyer and I should not have a vehicle that gets less than 7000 miles a year on it costing me this much for something that is an obvious flaw in the design.


Ok, done whining now. Thanks for reading.

Totally understand how you feel. I'd have to say that GM probably played the odds with this one. Otherwise we'd hear of this all the time and I wouldn't have to conjure up a hail-screen solution for my LeSabre. I bet it'* not the first time this has happened to anyone ever. But it is so rare that they probably felt it acceptable. Not acceptable to the poor sap that it happens to of course. Point here is: Your odds of this happening are minuscule and I bet it will never happen to you again. If it does then don't fly commercial airlines and DO play the lottery.

GM cares? Of course not. New Buicks will be made in China and I bet most of the public are not aware of this; or probably don't care if they do. The taxpayers bailed out GM and lost $13 billion in the deal.

Seems off-topic to me, and incomplete. Some new USA-market Buicks will be built in China. More in Europe. More still in North America. Even more than all of those put together will be made in China for the Chinese market. This will be around three times the total Buick production for USA. Yes GM will make money on this, but it will be money coming from China to an American company. Seems like a good deal for the US overall.

Forbes Welcome

. . . is an interesting summary of this, and I'd love to discuss further in another forum.