On Thursday morning 28 June 2007 the timing belt on this Chevrolet Aveo broke, resulting in catastrophic damage to the engine. The vehicle was towed to radley Chevrolet, where this diagnosis was rendered. Radley Chevrolet held a new car owner's orientation class at which their services and hours were discussed. Class topics included timely oil and filter changes. No mention was made, or emphasis placed, on the need for inspection of the timing belt at 30,000 miles or its replacement at 60,000 miles. When I mentioned this recently to the radley Chevrolet general manager he responded by telling me that all Chevrolet made in the usa use timing chains instead of timing belts. Hence his staff would not think to emphasize the need to inspect and change the timing belt. It appeared that this lack of concern or training may have extended to some maintenance personnel. I was not advised of the need for this inspection at either of the two oil changes, performed by radley around the 30,000 mile point. The timing belt failed at an odometer reading of 60,331 miles. The 331 miles beyond the 60,000-mile recommended replacement point suggest that the odometer has an accuracy better than.55%. considering the technology used to measure speed and mileage in vehicles sold to the public it is not likely that any are so accurate. Had observed that in driving from alexandria, Virginia to fredericksburg, Virginia she was often among the slowest on the road in spite of speedometer readings that suggest she was driving well above the posted limit. On several occasions she had her husband record the elapsed time between mile-posts and found that they were traveling around 5 to 6 miles per hour less than the speedometer reading. This amounts to an odometer reading from 6.25% to 8.5% greater than actual distance traveled. Hence at an odometer reading of 60,331 miles, actual mileage is between 56,560 and 55,203 miles.

- Dahlgren, VA, USA

-the contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Aveo and stated that since she purchased the vehicle the passenger's side seat belts never locked correctly in place. She took the vehicle to the dealer, and they replaced the seat belt, but she believed that they switched it from the front to the back. Currently, the seat belt has been locking when anyone sat in the back. Also, the dome lights iwere constantly burning out. This had occurred about three or four times. In addition, the clock did not work whenever she set the time, it would change on its own Accord. Similarly, the key lock on the driver's side fell through the door panel. The dealer repaired and painted the door the wrong color, and they painted over the door handle. Just last week finally, the tension pulley fell off while she was driving on the freeway. They told her this was normal wear and tear on the vehicle and refused to make further repairs. The failure mileage was 32, and the current mileage was 60,750.

- Rancho Cucucamonga, CA, USA