Recall - Brake Proportioner Valve Breakage: Overview
Model Year 1983Bulletin No. 83-C-8
File in Group 50
Number 2
Date Oct. '83
SUBJECT: BRAKE PROPORTIONER VALVE MAY SEPARATE FROM MASTER CYLINDER
MODELS AFFECTED: 1983 CENTURYS, SKYLARKS AND SKYHAWKS
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, as amended, provides that each vehicle which is subject to a recall campaign of this type, must be adequately repaired within a reasonable time after the owner has tendered it for repair. A failure to adequately repair within sixty (60) days after tender of a vehicle is prima facie evidence of failure to repair within a reasonable time. If the condition is not adequately repaired within a reasonable time, the owner may be entitled to an identical or reasonably equivalent vehicle at no charge, or to a refund of the purchase price, less a reasonable allowance for depreciation.
To avoid having to provide these burdensome solutions, every effort must be made to promptly schedule an appointment with each owner and to repair the vehicle as soon as possible. As you will see in reading the attached copy of the letter which is being sent to owners, the owners are being instructed to contact the nearest Buick Zone Office if their dealer does not remedy the condition within five days of the agreed service date. If the condition is not remedied within a reasonable time, the owners are instructed on how to contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
DEFECT INVOLVED
General Motors has determined that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists on some 1983 Centurys, Skylarks and Skyhawks. The brake proportioner valves used on some of these vehicles may break and separate from the master cylinder. This would result in a brake fluid leak and a partial loss of the brake system. These vehicles are equipped with a dual braking system; part of the system will still work and allow the vehicle to be stopped, but over a greater distance. Partial loss of the brake system at a time when minimum stopping distance is required could result in a vehicle crash without prior warning.