GM’s recall tally rises to 11.2 million U.S. vehicles
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — General Motors is recalling an additional 2.7 million vehicles, including models with faulty brake lights that have led to hundreds of complaints, pushing the automaker’s total number of cars and trucks called back for fixes in the U.S. this year to more than 11 million.
The new total for the year so far is more than GM recalled during the previous six years combined.
CEO Mary Barra is grappling with the recall of 2.59 million cars to fix a defective ignition switch linked to at least 13 deaths. She reorganized the engineering department, added personnel to investigate problems, and introduced a program to encourage employees to flag safety concerns. An internal report is due later this month.
The bulk of yesterday’s five recalls covers 2.44 million Chevy, Pontiac and Saturn cars dating back to the 2004 model year.
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Corrosion can affect wiring and cause brake lights to fail to illuminate, Detroit-based GM said yesterday. The company has received hundreds of complaints and said it’s aware of 13 related crashes and two injuries. GM said it doesn’t know of any fatalities.
“The recent ignition recall has led us to reexamine really every part of our business to make sure our customers and their safety are at the heart of everything we do,” Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM global vehicle safety, said in an interview. “As part of that, we’ve made some changes in our overall recall process, and these changes, I’m sure that you’ve seen, have resulted in a much larger than normal number of GM vehicle recalls since the beginning of the year.”
Yesterday’s recalls total 2.99 million worldwide, Alan Adler, a GM spokesman, said in an email. The company expects to take a charge of about $200 million in the second quarter, primarily for the cost of recall-related repairs announced in the quarter, the company
The U.S. auto industry is on track to exceed last year’s 22 million recalls and for the most vehicles since 31 million were recalled in 2004.
said. That’s after a $1.3 billion charge in the first quarter for recall costs.
The biggest U.S. automaker said it has now recalled 12.9 million vehicles worldwide, including 11.2 million in its home country.
With GM’s actions yesterday, the industry in the U.S. is on track to exceed last year’s 22 million recalls and for the most vehicles since 31 million in 2004.
The 2.44 million vehicles GM recalled yesterday for brake lamps include the Chevy Malibu from 2004 to 2012, Malibu Maxx from 2004 to 2007, Pontiac G6 from 2005 to 2010, and Saturn Aura from 2007 to 2010. GM issued a technical service bulletin in 2008 describing a fix for its dealers and conducted a more-limited recall in 2009 that included only 2005 model-year cars.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration informed GM in a Nov. 14 letter that it had upgraded a defect investigation into brakelight wiring in the Pontiac G6. Regulators had 447 reports of malfunctioning lights that worked in reverse — lighting when the pedal wasn’t depressed and turning off when it was.
The agency said it had received similar complaints about the Malibu and the Aura. Some vehicle owners also complained that cruise control wouldn’t engage and their stability-control and traction-control warning lights came on, it said.
GM also is recalling 111,889 model-year 200507 Corvettes to fix a potential failure of lowbeam headlights.
In addition, GM recalled 140,067 2014 Malibu sedans with 2.5 literengines for hydraulicbrake issues and 19,225 Cadillac CTS cars from 2013 and 2014 for windshield wipers that can become inoperable. The company also recalled 477 of its 2014 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups and 2015 Chevy Tahoe sport-utility vehicles for tie-rods that might not be properly tightened.