Hood flew up

[Bikerjulio Founding Member & Sr. Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Bikerjulio]

Well now it's happened to me.

Left home and going quite slowly - 50 klicks max (30 MPH) and the hood flew up. Quickly pulled over and closed it.

On getting back home I see all kinds of misalignment with some interference between the edge of the hood and fender that's left a ding in the edge of the hood.

I've shimmed and adjusted as best I could to improve things, but still not great.

Don't know how it happened to be open, I never leave it open. Not conscious of any warning, although I could have missed the DIC warning I suppose, but for sure no audible warning.

Weeks later I figured out how to edit a PDR video. So here it is

[John forum co-founder & admin Find all posts View Profile Close John]

We are all so sorry that happened to you! Hopefully you can get it repaired and returned to its original condition soon.

[MidEngine Sr. Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close MidEngine]

Bikerjulio, I am also very displeased that happened to you.

[[email protected] Founder & Resident Photographer Find all posts View Profile Close [email protected]]

Had to be scary indeed. Any chance that it was opened by accidentally pressing the FOB?

[dcbingaman Founding Member & Sr. Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close dcbingaman]

There really needs to be a manual safety catch on this thing like a real car hood has. This is at least the second incidence of this and the car is not even a year old with less than 3000 units on the road.

I would imagine a completely manual safety catch that you would have to open manually through the partially opened hood would be an easy retrofit.

[Neil H Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Neil H]

Here is a link to the other post on this:

https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...ing-windshield

[Neil H Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Neil H]

And here are my findings when I checked it out on my car:

"Just checked this out on my car.

Operation/general info, from what I can tell:

There are 3 latch positions (fully latched position, first latch position and fully unlatched position), just like the hood latch systems that have been used for many years.

Whenever the hood is at either the first latch position or the fully unlatched position, the warning is indicated on the RHS of the IPC (instrument panel cluster).

The emergency hood release button will open the hood at any time, under all conditions (which I assume might be the case for OnStar as well).

The other 3 electronic hood unlatching methods (fob, touch pad, door mounted switch) are only enabled and allowed and possible when the car is in Park, regardless of the state of the electric parking brake.

The only other way to unlatch the hood, whether it is in Park or not, is using the manual release cable, underneath the dash, above your left toes.
When that cable is pulled once, the hood unlatches to the first latch position and a 2nd pull completely unlatches the hood."


I would guess the latch is defective or a poor design -- they should have made it an electric pull-down like the rear trunk.

[John forum co-founder & admin Find all posts View Profile Close John]

Thank you Neil H for that information.

[Bikerjulio Founding Member & Sr. Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Bikerjulio]

Yes

Neil H

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Neil H is correct, and I'd done the same experiments with my car on the move.

It almost seems like we need to check the hood every time we set off. We are all human and could miss a DIC warning. Pretty disappointing that this happened. Don't think I missed it.

To rub salt in the wound, the DIC gives a ridiculous warning about not driving at more than 132 km/hr with the hood open. Hell, I was going 40-50 and there's damage. Who could even drive with the hood open? Why??

I only saw this warning after the hood was fully opened and I'd pulled over. Making me think there had been no previous warning.

[shiumai Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close shiumai]

Hopefully soon, the aftermarket will offer key fob covers that help prevent accidental activation of buttons, and also protect the fob. I have a silicone cover on mine (not a Vette).

[Klinn Sr. Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Klinn]

Yikes! I'm sorry to hear you were hit by this problem. I think that's actually three different owners on this forum who have had the same problem, although I can't find the relevant post at the moment.

I've had one strange experience with the hood. Normally when you close it, you push once and it does the first latch but it's still obviously raised up a bit, then you push a second time and it does the second latch and is closed all the way down. However, one time I pushed it closed and with the first push it went flush as if it was fully latched. No second push needed. But I'm not sure if it was truly fully latched of just looked that way. Knowing the issue that had been reported here, I opened the hood again and went through the usual two-push routine. I just didn't trust that it had latched completely even though it looked as if it had.

This is definitely a issue GM needs to address. It's a serious safety concern. Even if it's technically an accidental user-initiated problem, it seems to happen far too easily without the user being aware of it.

[Bikerjulio Founding Member & Sr. Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Bikerjulio]

Yikes! I'm sorry to hear you were hit by this problem. I think that's actually three different owners on this forum who have had the same problem, although I can't find the relevant post at the moment.

I've had one strange experience with the hood. Normally when you close it, you push once and it does the first latch but it's still obviously raised up a bit, then you push a second time and it does the second latch and is closed all the way down. However, one time I pushed it closed and with the first push it went flush as if it was fully latched. No second push needed. But I'm not sure if it was truly fully latched of just looked that way. Knowing the issue that had been reported here, I opened the hood again and went through the usual two-push routine. I just didn't trust that it had latched completely even though it looked as if it had.

This is definitely a issue GM needs to address. It's a serious safety concern. Even if it's technically an accidental user-initiated problem, it seems to happen far too easily without the user being aware of it.

If it seems to be an unlatched hood (for whatever reason), when starting out.

How hard could it be to prevent the car moving?

[JB Senior Contributing Member & Patron Find all posts View Profile Close JB]

This is terrible and Im sorry to hear this occurred with your beautiful new corvette. Im sure it will be fixed as good as new.

if it were meI would contact the corvette quality control people and let them know this happened.

im very disappointed this can happen and surely it will happen to many corvette owners..

sounds to me like this is an issue the corvette engineers should address immediately and I never blame GM.

This is just crazy. The corvette team needs to know.

sorry to hear this happened and please know we thank you for alerting us ..

this sounds like its going to be a bigger occurrence than the flying targa top debacle many of us have experienced.

That one I only blame myself but a front hood popping open while driving is a whole new type of dangerous occurrence.

please consider contacting Corvette engineering not for a reimbursement but to find a solution

if it hapoened once to you it could happen again..

gm engineering needs to know

best wishes and im sure repaired will be as good as new,

[JB Senior Contributing Member & Patron Find all posts View Profile Close JB]

Btw do we have a gm customer service representative n this sitso we can communicate this dangerous flaw..

notifying them ahead of time to.help gm ti avoid a safety recall or lawsuit.

front hoods flying open,ost importantly block vision of the road.

this is not a small concern for owners or GM lawyers

early solution from GM engineering is a very smart path for corvette engineering to take.

[USCANAM Founding Member, Sr. Contributor & Patron Find all posts View Profile Close USCANAM]

We’re about to get hood-winked.

2 month QCH while problem is being remedied!

Don’t t understand it, most cars have had a front opening hood for over a century.

These should be off the shelf parts, tried and proved.