Service bulletin 12-204-16R

A bulletin is a manufacturer's communication to its dealers, as NHTSA indexes it. The summary is NHTSA's. The document is the manufacturer's: read it at NHTSA. A bulletin is not a recall, and listing a model year does not mean every vehicle of it is concerned.

NHTSA's summary

This bulletin provides potential source locations and procedures to help isolate areas of the vehicle which may be generating popping, clicking or creaking sounds when the body is in a "twisting" condition. This can occur while driving on rough, irregular or uneven road surfaces or even during lowspeed maneuvers such as pulling into or backing out of a driveway. Production information and field reports received indicate where multiple layers of the vehicle's body structure are spot-welded together, primarily in the "D"-pillar and rear gate opening areas, a "stick-slip" condition can occur between the layers and cause these types of sounds to occur. Service information has been released previously describing similar conditions which involved accessing and then punching or separating the layers of metal and applying a lubricant to prevent recurrence. Those same techniques may also provide good results on these vehicles too but, in some cases, a Body Shop repair may be required.

The document

• NHTSA's copy of the document (PDF)
• If that address does not open, try this one

The document is the manufacturer's. This site does not hold it. NHTSA files a document at one of these two addresses; we have not asked NHTSA which.

Components

Body and frame

Listing a model year does not mean every vehicle of it is concerned: the document says which.

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