Severe manufacturing DEFECT! - Help!

My name is Laura Haskell, owner of a 2005 Chevrolet Equinox. A couple weeks ago, I discovered the floor board of my vehicle was saturated with water. I toweled it up and vacuumed as much water as I could and after several days it would not dry out. Last Thursday, October 30, 2009, I went to get into my vehicle and had almost 2" of standing water in the floor board. Front driver / passenger and back passenger floor boards. We've had weeks of rain fall here.

I called GM at 1-800-222-1020 at 8:30 am on October 30th to begin a case to see if this is a common problem and if GM would stand behind their products.

As of today, November 3rd, 2009 my vehicle was diagnosed by a Chevrolet dealership as follows;

A seam under the luggage rack that was not properly welded and is allowing any water to leak in to the D Pillar of my vehicle and collecting in the floor boards.

This seam is a 1.50" gap that was clearly missed by the welder. A regular rain, snow or car wash will not produce or compare to the amount of rain that fell in our area, so the fact this has never happened to this extent is clear. I am being told that because my vehicle is a 2005 and is no longer under the factory warranty that it's not GM responsibility to fix this.

None of the above have ANYTHING to do with how many miles are on the vehicle, how often the oil is changed and well my vehicle owner maintenance is.

A few points of contention;

1.) This is not a "wear and tear" situation, this is a structural problem on the assembly line during the making of this vehicle.

2.) If I were to trade in or sell my vehicle, I have to accept a much lesser price due to this defect, even though I paid for a vehicle that was believed to have been assembled with top quality.

3.)For several months, my children and I have been breathing in mold and mildew due to this defect.

At one point on a regular routine oil change and check, the hepa filter was replaced because it was full of mold. The mold was accumulted because of the humidity in the vehicle from the wet carpets. My children and I are breathing this as the air is circulated in my vehicle.

2 years old, 5 years old, 10 years old, doesn't matter. This problem occured in the factory when the vehicle was built. Man or machine failed to manufacture this properly and GM is not standing behind there quality or service. I am extremely disappointed and am asking for assistance in getting this matter resolved.

You can smell the mildew the second you open the door. This is the only vehicle I own. I am a single mother with three children. With this being the only vehicle we have, we are all being exposed to this "mildew and molded" carpet daily as this is my transportation everywhere we go.

This is in fact considered a defect and / or poor workmanship. I am sure you can agree that I should not be responsible for the cost to have this problem fixed. Due to the seam that was not welded properly, water leaking in to our vehicle, saturating the carpet and causing mold and mildew to form, I am being forced to find other transportation arrangements for my three daughters.

Help!