LT4 Z51

On Monday June 20th I took delivery of my 2023 Stingray Coupe in California and drove it home the next day to my house in Nevada. Paperwork for out-of-state purchase and licensing went smoothly, and I even got my vanity plate OORAAH that I’ve had for my last 16 years to put on my new car. It was upon mounting my plate that I noticed that the emergency mechanical keyed-tumbler was deleted from ALL 2023 models and that there was no way to open the rear trunk hatch in an emergency if there was a failure in the electrical controls. That feature has been standard in the past three model years, so why did GM delete a vital, critical, convenience and SAFETY feature on the 23 model-year cars? This is the most stupid thing I’ve seen GM do to what is supposed to be the Halo product of their entire line of vehicles. The Corvette Community is a tight-knit group, and I believe the word has spread like wild-fire about the lack of good judgement GM has shown by what I’ll presume is simply a cost-cutting move. There are a lot of remote, isolated roads in Nevada, and compromised safety in my car is not an option for an 80-year-old, partially disabled driver like me.

I can already smell a CLASS-ACTION Law Suit over this debacle from GM to try to save a relative pittance. I’ll guarantee this decision was NOT originated by any sound thinking engineers; I smell bean counters that probably don’t even drive or own Corvettes. Former Chief Corvette Engineers Zora Arkus-Duntov, Dave McLellan, Dave Hill, and Tom Wallace must be shaking their heads; and I can’t imagine that Tadge Juechter would allow this to happen on his watch. The origin for this idiocy just has to be from somewhere higher up.

General Motors President Mark Reuss and GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra, are you there? What say you—the silence is deafening!?

Do you realize what is underneath that rear hatch that can’t be accessed if there is an electrical failure? You can’t access your possessions in the trunk-- coats, wallets, cameras, firearms, emergency tools, food, water, etc. Do you have a fire extinguisher in the car? Well good luck using it if there is an engine fire if you can’t readily access the rear hatch wherever it’s stored. And just how many psi pressure are the new gasoline fuel-injection lines carrying? Let’s hope you don’t have to find out if there is fuel leaking all over the top of a very hot engine and exhaust system. This is WAY beyond penny-pinching cost savings and minor inconvenience. My Owners Manual says to check the oil at every gas fill while the engine is breaking-in because it might use more oil. Well guess where the goddamned oil dipstick is? You guessed it-- beneath that rear hatch that can’t be accessed if there is an electrical failure!

I predict that in the coming months, owners of the 2023 models will be flocking to the Dealership Parts Departments to try to retrofit the locking mechanisms that were standard on the previous models. In the meantime, I’ve jury rigged a piece of strong Dacron string tied to the interior pull for all those kids that will be riding around in the rear oven of my car, with a short piece of the string accessible at the crack of the hatch. Classy, real classy. Like a piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe...

So, what started out as a $60,000 base price for the 2020 Stingray ultimately cost me $96,366.02 in June 2022, which now includes the classy feature of a piece of f***ing string hanging out as an emergency safety feature. Damned if I’m going to use a 3” hole saw to access the locking mechanism, like the latest bulletin suggests. Someone needs to update that bulletin to reinstate the mechanical lock as like in the previous three model years.

“Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” --Aristophanes 446-386 B.C.

GM went bankrupt once, presumably because they were doing something stupid businesswise; let’s hope they aren’t repeating that history.

And BTW, what do you think the National Highway Traffic SAFETY Administration thinks of the new mechanical back-up rear latch delete policy?

Trust me, they’ll know soon enough. Someone already made an excellent video of the problem and it’s rapidly circulating around the internet as we speak. As car manufacturing evolves, the products are supposed to get better, not worse; perhaps GM needs to rethink their philosophies.

CitznFish

If I can understand this wall of text, they removed the mechanical key lock for the rear hatch?

Weird.

But you calling it a safety issue is even wierder. How, exactly, is this a personal safety issue? Because you can't manually unlock the rear hatch? That is not a safety issue. It's dumb and inconvenient, but that's it.

And you thinking a class action lawsuit will result is just insane.

Jeff V.

You usually need to show actual damages to begin a lawsuit.

Let's follow up on this hyperbolic nonsense at this time next year and see how many people had to drill holes in their cars. Then, maybe, you can start making progress on your ambulance chasing dreams.

flyboyyy

Surely this is just a sarcastic post meant to elicit laughs?!!? You succeeded!

Kevin A Jones

Are you an attorney testing the waters in anticipation of possibly starting a class action lawsuit?
If not and this upsets you so I hope you never encounter a real issue with your new C8.

rip74

What is the method of gaining entry to the car with the keyed lock being removed and a dead battery?

tadda

TL;DR...next...

mjhoward

It sounds like maybe you should just sell the car and buy something else.

Ryan Ol Ghanta

Time for your meds grandpa.
clearly the multitude of Chevy lawyers didn’t see this one coming

BoxFlyer

It's not unique to Corvette - MBZ also has same situation to drill in case of complete failure. Extremely rare for that to happen

Jeff V.

There's still a key cylinder for the door.

JDSC8VETTE

Well if you want to start a class action suit California would be a great place to do it. Lots of lawyers there looking for ridiculous reasons to start law suits. It’s good to have people like you on alert to file lawsuits for something that hasn’t happened and probably never will and the lawyers would be more than willing to help out.

FLS2K

Wow, quite the rant. FWIW, my Cayman frunk and trunk are the same, and I’m sure there are others, no key access. It’s not anything unique to Corvette.

Fishfryer527

Rule number one, never go grocery shopping and put food in the rear trunk.

From what I can see so far, this corvette is not one to grow old with. I’m looking forward to getting my C8, but I’ll never sell my C3.

JD'S WHITE 93

Guns,ammo,food and water ? Is this your sports car or a bug out vehicle ?

JDSC8VETTE

l go shopping all the time with my C8 and I put lots of stuff in the rear trunk including food with no problems. When you say this Corvette is not one to grow old with how old are you talking?
The C8 is by far the most comfortable Vette yet and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. You don’t even have a C8 yet you are making statements like you are an expert.

wysokowski

Open the frunk and charge the battery..

Fishfryer527

the future corvettes won’t have a key access for the rear trunk. Nobody wants that to fail with groceries in the back. While I’m sure the car is comfortable, it seems to be a foolish engineering change where it shouldn’t be. I’ve driven a couple and like the C8, I get the impression from this forum that it won’t be a very durable car and you shouldn’t expect to own it for decades like an older vette. That’s all I am saying.

The simple fact that cost cutting has become so important that they would omit a rear trunk key lock makes me wonder about what things I can’t see are omitted. I’ve been an engineer on manned space flight programs, there are places to save money, and places not to. It makes me question if this reliance on a small actuator that if it fails requires a GIANT HOLE TO BE CUT IN THE CAR. Really, a GIANT HOLE. Not even an access panel behind the license plate? But a giant hole.

I’d rather not have it lock at all, really, what are you going to get stolen, some pop tarts?

so, I’m guessing I will own the car until the warranty runs out then see what else is out there. FYI, I’ve owned my big block C3 for 30 years, so I am a ‘corvette guy’, not sure If the new one will become a member of the family for all that long.

Kracka

I'd love to see someone, car/engine on fire, sit there unscrewing the license plate so they can use the manual key cylinder to open the trunk.

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Shoal07

The problem is if the electronic mechanism fails your only recourse is to drill a 3in hole in the trunk to access the mechanical bits to release it. Is it completely stupid to delete this? As far as I can tell, yes. Can you sue and win today? Probably not - as stated, there needs to be some sort of injury (physical or expense) to have any standing. Not liking the decision based on hypothetical scenarios isn't going to get you far in court.