GMdelayed another recall for years

Documents showa slow response despite fielding thousands of complaints.

detroit » General Motors waited years to recall nearly 335,000 Saturn Ions for power steering failures despite getting thousands of consumer complaints and more than 30,000 warranty repair claims, according to government documents released Saturday.

TheNational HighwayTraffic Safety Administration, the government’s auto safety watchdog, also didn’t seek a recall of the compact car from the 2004 through 2007model years even though it opened an investiga- tion more than two years ago and found 12 crashes and two injuries caused by the problem.

The documents, posted on the agency’s website, show yet another delay by GM in recalling unsafe vehicles and point to another example of government safety regulators reacting slowly to a safety problem.

Arecall can be initiated by an automaker or demanded by the government.

Both GM and NHTSA have been criticized for their slow responses to a deadly ignition switch problem in 2.6 million GM small cars. GM admitted knowing about the problem for more than a decade, yet didn’t start recalling the cars until February. The company says it knows of 13 deaths in crashes linked to the ignition switches, ac G6s and Chevrolet Malibus.

In a statement Saturday, GM admitted that it didn’t do enough to take care of the power steering problem.

NHTSA closed its investigation into the Ion because GM had decided to recall the cars, according to the documents released Saturday.

“This raises more troubling concerns aboutGM’s andNHTSA’s actions aswell as questions about whether NHTSA has the capability to effectively do its job,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo. “I intend to aggressively pursue these issues as our congressional investigation into GMand NHTSA continues.”

DeGette was a ranking member of a House subcommittee that grilledGMCEO Mary Barra this month in a hearing.