Woman replaced a broken visor in her Chevy Tahoe, now the SUV won’t start and ChatGPT only made things worse

Sarah Novak owns a 2020 Chevrolet Tahoe. She and her husband tried to replace a broken sun visor on the driver’s side. What seemed like a quick and easy fix turned into a total mess. The next day, their SUV wouldn’t start at all.

Instead of taking the car to a mechanic, they decided to ask ChatGPT for help, according to Motor1. “We’re ChatGPTing it, but I don’t know if we’re doing it right or what the problem is,” she said in a TikTok clip that’s been viewed more than 12,000 times. “If you work for Chevy or you’re a mechanic that’s worked with Chevys, can you please help?”

The problems began right after they put in the new visor. The next morning, the Tahoe turned on for a moment, showed a bunch of warning lights on the dashboard, and then died completely. Novak’s husband thought disconnecting the battery might fix it, which is a common trick people use to reset car electronics. But that didn’t help either. They knew the battery was fine because they had just bought a new $400 battery two months earlier.

Modern cars hide serious electrical systems in unexpected places

ChatGPT told them that messing with wires in some General Motors vehicles can cause control modules to stop talking to each other, which stops the car from starting. They followed the AI’s suggestions carefully, but the Tahoe still wouldn’t turn on.

Here’s the real problem. A sun visor might look like just a simple piece of plastic, but in large SUVs like the Tahoe, these parts connect to complicated electrical systems called CAN and LIN. Newer General Motors vehicles use these systems so different control modules can communicate. 

The wiring in the headliner can connect to critical parts like the airbag system and the Body Control Module, or BCM. The BCM controls important things like starting the car, locking doors, and dashboard displays. This isn’t the first time modern car electronics have left owners frustrated, as another driver’s key fob nightmare with her Range Rover shows how complex vehicles have become.

If you accidentally pinch a wire, connect it to the wrong spot, or leave one slightly loose during a repair, the BCM spots the problem right away. To protect the vehicle, it shuts everything down and won’t let the car start. This safety feature is great for security but terrible for people doing their own repairs.

This explains why ChatGPT’s advice and disconnecting the battery didn’t work. Modern control modules save error codes in a special memory that doesn’t disappear when you cut the power. You can’t just disconnect the battery to clear everything anymore. Car experts say that disconnecting the battery over and over can actually cause new problems and trigger security lockouts.

AI tools can explain basic ideas, but they can’t diagnose specific car problems. ChatGPT doesn’t have access to your car’s exact wiring diagrams, service updates, or live error codes. It definitely can’t see if you pinched a wire behind the visor. Fixing electrical problems needs detailed information about the car model, year, options, and a real inspection.

Professional mechanics who work on GM SUVs know that when a car won’t start right after interior work, it’s usually a BCM problem or a communication error. They wouldn’t mess with the battery first. They would use a diagnostic scan tool immediately to read error codes, check the visor area for damaged wires, fix any short circuits, and then clear the codes. 

Sometimes mechanics find unexpected problems under the hood that leave even experienced professionals stumped. In tough cases, they need dealer-level software to reset a module, which you can’t do with basic tools. For Novak, the next step will probably involve a scan tool and a trained mechanic, not another attempt to reset the battery.