Silverado: Same Truck For Less Money???

I'm beginning to think that my 2004 Silverado C/1500 truck was the last of the "good" ones. In 2004, GM was heavily into 0$ down/0% 60-month financing, but they hadn't yet started reducing their suggested retail prices.

During the 2005 and 2006 model years, I have wondered how GM could offer extensive rebates and other customer incentives in addition to lower list prices for trucks which, seemingly, were nearly identical to the truck that I bought in 2004. The same 2006 Silverado C/1500 now sells for $2000 less than I paid for my 2004.

Apparently, GM was able to save a few bucks on each C/1500 by switching back to rear drum brakes, after 6 years of using rear disk brakes. GM stated that this change was made to make its customers happier with pedal-feel. Apparently, only the C/1500 customers had pedal-feel issues, because the C/1500 HD, C/2500, C/3500, Avalanche, Tahoe and Suburban models kept their mushy rear disc brakes, at least through the 2005 model year. And for some unexplained reason, GM decided to keep the old fashioned, less efficient disc brakes in the front of all models, even the C/1500. The gem below obviously originated in GM's advertising department:

Some will argue that drum brakes on the rear are better than disc brakes. Still, I feel that GM is cutting corners and producing trucks that are not as good as the ones that they produced only 2 years ago. Taking a look at the 7 vehicle safety recall records for the 2005 Chevrolet Silverado is a real eye-opener. Two of the recall items involve the "improved" BOSCH brake system that premiered in the 2005 C/1500 Silverados. The article cited above boasts that the low-end Silverados will have "a totally new master cylinder and booster that is stiffer and more efficient." The recall article sited below states that the new BOSCH Hydro-boost brake assemblies can explode and flying fragments can injure people nearby. Worse yet, the failed, leaking system can cause both steering and braking problems and "a crash may occur without prior warning."

All these improvements to the Silverado C/1500 braking system were supposedly done to provide drivers with better feedback, require less pedal effort and deliver generally better overall response and "feel." This is total bullshit! GM is cutting corners at the expense of customer safety.

I think that this incident with the brakes is only the tip of the iceberg as far as GM's cost-cutting is concerned.

More worms will be crawling out of this apple.