hedonistcpl32507

Our AW Z51 was built Feb 6th and has been on a "quality hold" since then. It is still at the factory and is now apparently finally ready for shipment to the dealership. Does anyone know what a "quality hold" is? My salesman was not forthcoming regarding its definition, purpose or anything else. My mind is swimming in what might be happening to our new Stingray. Ideas? Experiences?

DocGuy

I am not extremely familiar with that process but will tell you what I know.

Some cars are randomly pulled after production to ensure quality. They will go through and nose to tail evaluation and anything that needs attention, gets it. You will notice 25 -30 miles on her as part of that inspection. You can rest assured that she will be in the best shape possible if this happens. If they find a quality control issue they will fix it at the factory and correct the line area where the issue came from. This may also cause a selective (VIN specific) recall for other cars that may have the same issue.

Also, they have QC along the line. If something in found on your car, they can pull it after it is off the line and it goes into a special area where technicians, who are qualified to take your car apart and rebuild as necessary, will correct the issue before it leaves the factory.

I saw this on my tour last August. Either way you can be sure it is fixed correctly! I would not worry, I think all of us would be glad if ALL of our cars went through this QC process to ensure it is perfect.

Good luck and enjoy your car when she arrives!

hope this helps,
Doc

laborsmith

What DocGuy said. At this point in the production year the pull is random and not related to whether it is a customer retail order or dealer stock order.

I have been following this process for many years and not just for Corvette and I can not recall any car pulled for this random check suffering a quality issue.

Laborsmith

1SG_Ret

Mine hit that code also, but only for a couple of days. So far it's been perfect in every way.

hedonistcpl32507

I very much appreciate your words of encouragement- this is one of the main reasons I camp out on this site. I understand a "pull from inventory" to do random checks on production. I do not understand a full month+ delay for a random inspection. It seems to me the car could have been rebuilt from "bolt one" several times over in that period. It does have me a bit worried after I have read so many threads on running paint; misaligned parts; orange peel; steering which pulls to the right; tires cracked due to cold (which Bowling Green has had a bunch of in February); failed state inspections on new Stingrays; frozen calipers; various oil leaks; etc. I admit to a certain anxiety that this, our first Corvette or GM product, will be a combination of flaws that is taking Bowling Green more than a month since manufacture to try to fix. I want to have that joy of ownership that I have also read about on these threads. Fingers crossed it will be so. Thanks again for the encouraging words. BTW, I do have a thread to customer service hoping they can explain this delay for "quality hold" with a little more precision than has the dealership.

laborsmith

The factory won't tell but this random QC is not quick. Everything is close checked. I do not recall seeing a time frame for completion but I am sure it is at least a couple of weeks based on posts of others who went thru it. Definitely more than a few days.

Laborsmith

SCOTSTERN

Simple question.....did you order stripes on your car? I had a AW convertible with full strips and I visited "quality hold" partially as a result of the stripes. Mine came with only 7 miles on it so it was not nose to tail reviewed but it did stay in quality hold for quite a while.

Spartan97

Mine was built on 2/11 and held in BG until just today 3/9 so basically about 4 weeks. Now it's headed to Toledo to get on the train bound for Cali...I've heard they can sit at the yards for a week or two...the wait goes on...

ArcticC7

Usually a hold such as this means "bad parts" were installed on a group of cars usually for the sake of not shutting the line down because of them. Sometimes GM will reject a group of parts from a supplier at the plant for some type of non conformity. Because of just in time production practice they usually don't have enough parts in the plant to change out the bad ones so the bad ones are installed anyway and that group of cars put on hold until the supplier ships them good parts for that particular production run. Once the parts arrive at the factory one by one each car is pulled back to the factory repair area and the good parts are swapped for the bad ones. I had this happen to me twice once with bad batteries and once with bad gas tanks. For example they get a bunch of carbon flash hood vents from the supplier with some sort of paint defect on all of them instead of shutting down the whole line because of a defective part they install the defective part anyway put those cars on hold then later install the good part once the supplier sends them replacement parts. Since the plant really has no parts stock because of Just in time building the supplier has to re ship them good parts for the VINs that got bad ones. It happens more often then you think.

b4i4getit

If anybody is expecting a car that was built a month ago and has been sitting in the plant parking lot for some reason its almost a given that your tires will have a problem. Maybe they are swapping out the tires on a lot of cars now that the warmer weather has arrived.

Youngwerth

My AW z51 was built the same day. It was bayed in Toledo on 2/11. Then it went to status 4300 and I was told by customer service that it was in transit for a qc check as part of the launch vehicle process. It showed back up in Toledo about a week ago and is now on a train in Cheyenne Wyoming heading this way. Onstar is showing mine has 3 miles on it so not sure what happened.

lggque

It means your frame was bent and they had to disassemble the entire care...insert new frame and assemble again. Seriously though....I would not worry about it. While waiting is probably driving you crazy it benefits you in the long run.

laborsmith

GM uses the same code for regular, random and fix/replace/repair what came off the line and is not quickly turned over to dispatch for shipping. And does not voluntarily what was the case and even if a fix/replace repair was needed. But if such was the reason, the rest of the build is closely checked for quality issues. The only problem for the buyer is the extra wait and the real benefit is one gets a modern vehicle in as close to excellent condition as is humanly possible.

Laborsmith