I think the local dealership is trying to take me for a ride (!)

Went to get a 2002 Cavalier inspected at the local dealership. The "Service Concierge" called and said they couldn't pass the car because of rust holes in the "rear cross-brace, cross-member, whatever it's called." (HIS words, not mine).

Anyway when I went over to get the car, he called out the "service associate" who had me crawl up under the car and check a cross member that is positioned right in front of the rear wheels. It's just a brace and there's no suspension components attached.

He was trying to convince me that the pre-engineered holes that run across the part were caused by rust which is kind of idiotic because rust doesn't cause holes of the same size every few inches on center all the way across the part. And just by looking, I could tell rust hadn't eaten away the cross-member to any degree that would compromise the part. (However, the "service associate" didn't speak English very well, so I may have been missing something.)

So, does anyone have a picture or schematic of the frame that shows this cross-member clearly? Or even identifies or describes the part? As I said it is a cross member jusr ahead of the rear wheels which is "V"-shaped and had pre-engineered holes on the leading edge.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

he's right they rust there and the whole rear suspension can and will fall off in time.


I miss my Cavalier, even if it made 100 hp on a cold day and had more suspension then it deserved.

OK, I'll buy that, but it still doesn't answer my first question: Does anyone have a picture or diagram of the frame in which this crossmember is identified and/or shown?