Got Options?

Wow I was shocked today when I had to repair the cigarette lighter power cables and replace them with larger wires. I bumped into an issue where the prior owners of the vehicle had left a GPS HALO tracking device and a ton of wires, a Viper Security system & remote start sytem with all the bells and whistles and a ton of wires and relays built right into the steering panel and all around the dash. I found that if you remove the wrong relays the car either wont turn over or will turn over but the fuel is shutoff. Well those were not chevy issues but this was.

Whilest removing the front panels around the dash and gages, and around the center cooling system and radio and underneath the airbag on the passenger side I was shocked to see "Made In Canada" on these parts and for them to contain structural hold tabs that were as brittle as potato chips. I mean its not that tough if they used rubbery plastic much like what is on my pet holder container the parts would not be breaking and therefore really difficult to reinstall once removed. The cost savings of using that cheap plastic far outweighed by the inconvenience of broken holding tabs. More RUBBER in the plastic or at least a different more maleable plastic is really needed on those parts, GET IT ? That should have been easy for the interiors group to figure out.

These vans are not exactly low end to buy new so I do hope they have realized this for newer models, but in the mean time what do I do with these cheap 2002 parts ? I would be willing to pay to replace if they redesigned them to be much more structurally sound and movable. I am sure I am not the only one to notice this since you need to remove these panels to replace radios and such.

USA 1

I have removed mine on numerous occasions without failure.

Treat them like you're handling the prom queen instead of a biker babe and they'll last. (All due respect to biker babes)