This Is Why The Chevy Citation Is Infamous

History has not been kind to General Motors for the failure it made in the form of the Citation. A car that took a fancy name from the English dictionary and did not remain faithful to it. It was bound to become one of the worst cars from the 20th century. As Chevrolet’s biggest mistake, it managed to rank quite high on the ‘how to not make a car’ list from the 1980s.

X-body cars

Behold the X-body platform on which the Chevy Citation was based. It was a platform that GM used for its cars from 1979 to 1985. During this period several compact cars were produced. These include the Oldsmobile Omega, the Pontiac Phoenix, and the Buick Skylark which suffered a tragic faith and painted themselves as a nuisance for their respective drivers and consumers.

Washington Post has beautifully explained the “X-Car braking controversy” and the NHTSA documents filings which eventually forced the US government to take action. In response to numerous complaints from X-body car owners, the US federal agency the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) filed a lawsuit against GM.

Other worst cars

Oh, don’t worry. The Chevrolet Citation was not alone in the competition called “Let’s destroy our consumers’ mind, safety, and their wallets’. Cars like the Ford Pinto, the Ferrari Mondial 8, the Yugo GV, and others equally tainted the automobile history of the 70s and the 80s. Of course, how can we forget its own sibling the Chevy Vega? It debuted for the 1971 model year and ran till 1977.

Why Vega holds an important place in the discussion related to Citation because it is just also one of the deadly sins of GM. From Caranddriver to Edmunds, many other magazines have also included the Vega in the “worst cars’ list. However, Chevrolet did manage to sell the Vega quite well. In its first year of introduction over 270,000 units were sold. 1972, 1973, and 1974 Chevy Vega model years saw an increased production that peaked at 460,3 units (all body styles combined). After 1974, the sales declined. Although, till 1977, Chevrolet produced over 2 million Vega models.

Entry of Chevry Citation in the market, its popularity, and sales

The Chevrolet Citation was introduced in the market after 3 years of discontinuation of the Vega. In 1980, Citation started selling as if it was hotcakes like other X-body cars. Boy, oh Boy was it a popular car. People waited months and months to wait for the Citation without knowing how much bad luck and high repair expenses it will bring.

Meanwhile, the Chevy Citation also is a recognizable name because it was the first car from Chevrolet to get a front-wheel drive system. It was a talk of the country not just some states. Every automobile and motoring magazine featured something about the Citation. Reality? Well, GM managed to trick these magazines into believing that the Citation was this amazing wonder of engineering. However, in reality, GM had actually sent the Citation X-body to respective magazines with several modifications. Reports tell that “heavy torque steer had been engineered out” by GM was done in quite a sneaky way. So the fake tale of ‘amazing Chevy citation’ came into existence.

All body styles combined, in 1980, around 811,540 Citations were sold. Then what happened next year? Well, there is a reason why Citation has the worst reputation among all bad cars that GM produced. In 1981, Citation’s sales dropped from heaven to the 7th earth. It only sold close to 413,379. One car argue that the sales numbers were better than Vega.

However, no one can deny that it was a monumental decline. After all even the cars like the Vega and the Pinto saw a rise in sales but not the Citation. For the next years, the gas in sales kept on increasing and the 1985 Chevy Citation was the last. Only 62,722 units of the 1985 Citation models were sold only. Overall, more than 1.6 million units were purchased from 1980 to 1985.

Variants

Over its 6 years of production, the Chevrolet Citation was offered in 3 different body styles. A 2-door hatchback also considered a coupe was the first type. Additionally, it was also built with 3-door hatchback and 5-door hatchback body styles. Meanwhile, a performance trim called X-11 Citation was also launched in the market in hopes of increasing sales. It did manage to achieve the goal.

Problems that GM couldn’t fix and the actual issues

Take the 1980 Chevy Citation or the 1985 Chevy Citation or any model in between these two, all were plagued with problems that are difficult to count. Since Citation was getting sold too quickly, Chevrolet started rushing production. It resulted in many many quality, mechanical, and design issues.

Moreover, it was not just Citation that suffered from this disease. Other X-body cars also displayed similar symptoms. Their interior bits were falling off, seats were loose, and poor ergonomics were the subject of complaints as well. The bad paint job and electrical malfunctions were frequent. While these problems were tough on the nose, the premature rusting could not be ignored either.

Lots of owners complained about the engine and transmission failure. The consistent breakdown was a major issue as well. Count the fuel line leakage as another problem among infinite others. Sluggish performance, low built quality and cheap interior, terrible fuel economy, and other things that could relate to mechanical reliability and comfort were partners in crime.

However, among all these defects or issues, the problems related to brakes became the most controversial. The Citation had a tendency to o lock the rear wheels if brakes were applied. This resulted in instability which led to crashes or accidents. A number of people lost lives, got hurt, and suffered traumas due to this and other flaws.

Recalls and the Lawsuit

The Chevy Citation had two major recalls. In one around 225,000 units of Citation X-body cars were asked to recall by NHTSA. In another recall, 50,000 examples needed some fixes. These 1981 and 1983 recalls were not the only ones. Reports also suggest that GM also secretly recalled many cars to fix some quality issues. NHTSA and the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against GM in 1983 following a high volume of recalls and consumer complaints about X-body cars.

The lawsuit alleged that GM was aware of the defective brakes in its cars but it still went ahead and sold the same. Additionally, some sources reveal that GM also knew about several other problems as well but it could not bother to fix them properly. So did GM learn its lesson? Apparently not. It continued to face several lawsuits for different models and different problems in the coming times.

If you have not watched “The GM Ignition Switch Congressional Hearings” sketch on SNL then you must. In the most hilarious way, it explains how big corporations like GM give the green light to cars like the Cobalt or in this case the Citation and end up playing a gamble with human lives.

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