I recently 'upgraded' from my 95 to a '06 97x. I have had it for two weeks now and I really like it. BUT; I have had some questions with GM's quality control, or in reality, lack of it. The car is in the dealer for the second time in a week.
1) It started with the squeaking noise coming from the rear driver door. I originally thought it was from the curtain air bags, but more investigation thought it was from the door rubbing against the weather stripping. The dealer looked at it and 'lubbed' up the seals.
This still didn't stop it and I now believe that it is due to the door not being flush with the door seals (weather stripping).

2) I had noticed that there was a bolt hanging about half way off attaching the rear door glass from the hinge. I tightened it down with my Torx set.

3) The diver door would have some resistance when opening or closing. I found that the latch pin was out of adjustment and would hit the lack jaw on the door. This wasn't a big deal to fix and it took me about 10 minutes to adjust and now it is flush and closes fine, like the rest of the doors do.

4) The front end was pieced together by several auto workers that have an affection for Picasso's view of the world. In mean the front bumper cover/grill doesn't seat flush with the rest of the car. The hood has a gap that widens about double the size form the drivers side to the passenger side. It was also missing the driver side rubber hood cushion. The hood is not flush with the fenders.
Now my dealer attempted to fix the issue but when I received the car I noticed that the gaps that were fix were replaced by gaps in different areas of the front end. Example> there is now a gap around the driver headlight and the head light is now loose.

I now have the car back into the dealer and informed the service adviser about the issues and he said that they will look into it, but that the vehicle is massed produced and it will not be perfect. I am not expecting perfection, but when you pay $40k for a bloody car I expect that it has had a good inspection. I want a vehicle that is built straight and not on a curve.


What do you guys think? Am I ridiculous? :

No you're not too anal, I would have the same problems with that. As a matter of fact I've noticed two slight body issues on my '06 9-7x. The mounting tape on the upper trim piece on the back window isn't holding the trim in place in the middle. Obviously the tape was dry or old when it was put on and it became worse. I'll probably just fix that myself. On the drivers front bumper one piece doesn't fit exactly flush under the headlight. Again probably some mounting tape wasn't applied or worked correctly. That one I'll probably have the dealer do.

Other than that I haven't noticed any other quality issues. From what I can tell a lot of the problems I've read about with the 9-7X/Trailblazer/Envoy are body related. I'm not up on automotive construction but could this be because it's body-on-frame instead of unibody? They've got to hang all these plastic panels and sheet metal off the frame and some pieces just don't get put on right all the time. Which isn't to excuse it, but I can see how this would be a more problematic construction method
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I recently 'upgraded' from my 95 to a '06 97x. I have had it for two weeks now and I really like it. BUT; I have had some questions with GM's quality control, or in reality, lack of it. The car is in the dealer for the second time in a week.
1) It started with the squeaking noise coming from the rear driver door. I originally thought it was from the curtain air bags, but more investigation thought it was from the door rubbing against the weather stripping. The dealer looked at it and 'lubbed' up the seals.
This still didn't stop it and I now believe that it is due to the door not being flush with the door seals (weather stripping).

2) I had noticed that there was a bolt hanging about half way off attaching the rear door glass from the hinge. I tightened it down with my Torx set.

3) The diver door would have some resistance when opening or closing. I found that the latch pin was out of adjustment and would hit the lack jaw on the door. This wasn't a big deal to fix and it took me about 10 minutes to adjust and now it is flush and closes fine, like the rest of the doors do.

4) The front end was pieced together by several auto workers that have an affection for Picasso's view of the world. In mean the front bumper cover/grill doesn't seat flush with the rest of the car. The hood has a gap that widens about double the size form the drivers side to the passenger side. It was also missing the driver side rubber hood cushion. The hood is not flush with the fenders.
Now my dealer attempted to fix the issue but when I received the car I noticed that the gaps that were fix were replaced by gaps in different areas of the front end. Example> there is now a gap around the driver headlight and the head light is now loose.

I now have the car back into the dealer and informed the service adviser about the issues and he said that they will look into it, but that the vehicle is massed produced and it will not be perfect. I am not expecting perfection, but when you pay $40k for a bloody car I expect that it has had a good inspection. I want a vehicle that is built straight and not on a curve.


What do you guys think? Am I ridiculous? :

No you are not, plus such adjustments are covered under warranty.
One question though, why did you take deliver of the car in such condition?

No, you are not anal. I always tell my customers that if something I sell them isn't perfect, tell me and I'll make sure it's perfect. There is a reasonable expectation that the product will live up to certain standards, and yours hasn't.

No you are not, plus such adjustments are covered under warranty.
One question though, why did you take deliver of the car in such condition?

I think GM has taken some real strides in QC, but we still probably don't get the level of fit and finish as expected from European vehicles. Anyway, he can't be expected to check out all potential niggling issues like this can he? My worry would be what happens after 20-30k when the vehicle loosens up a bit more.

unfortunitly i hate to say it but the rear door thing may be somehting you will have to get use to, i replaced many peices of that weatherstrip back in 03 when the trailblazer first came out for either noise or being broken. normaly though a little bit of silicon spray quiets them down for a bit.

also the body on frame is a little misleading. reality is that it is unibody on frame. the body structure it self can be lifted and supported on a 2 post 4 contact lift and the frame and driveline rolled out form under it without issue. it is self supporting. very little of the bodywork actually mounts to the frame.

also the body on frame is a little misleading. reality is that it is unibody on frame. the body structure it self can be lifted and supported on a 2 post 4 contact lift and the frame and driveline rolled out form under it without issue. it is self supporting. very little of the bodywork actually mounts to the frame.

Interesting. Someone also mentioned a while back that it wouldn't have been *that* difficult to put an independent rear into it and that had even been contemplated in orginal design?