G.M. Recalls
Another 2.7 Million Vehicles
General Motors is recalling another
2.7 million vehicles in the United States as it continues to address safety
problems following its deadly ignition-switch crisis.
G.M., the nation’s largest
automaker, said Thursday that it was issuing five new recalls for vehicles with
a variety of problems, including one for brake lights that might not illuminate
in its Chevrolet Malibu midsize cars.
The recalls are the latest in a
series of safety actions that began in February with the long-delayed recall of
millions of small cars equipped with faulty ignitions that G.M. has linked to
13 deaths.
The action for
the Malibu also marks the ninth time in about 16 months that the automaker has
recalled vehicles for which it previously sent only a bulletin to dealers, an
analysis by The New York Times found. G.M. has repeatedly sent these letters,
called technical service bulletins, to dealers and sometimes to car owners as
stopgap safety measures instead of ordering timely recalls, the analysis found.
So far this year, G.M. has recalled
about 11.1 million vehicles in the United States, the company said Thursday, a
vast expansion over the nearly 758,000 it recalled in 2013. Worldwide, G.M. has
recalled nearly 12.8 million vehicles this year, it said.
The company also said the financial
toll of the recalls was increasing as well.
G.M. said it expected to take a
$200 million charge in the second quarter to cover recall-related repairs. That
follows a $1.3 billion charge the automaker took in the first quarter, which
eliminated most of its profits from the quarter.
The company’s top safety official,
Jeff Boyer, said in statement that G.M. had stepped up its efforts to review
complaints about vehicles and fix vehicles promptly.
“We have redoubled our efforts to expedite
and resolve current reviews in process and also have identified and analyzed
recent vehicle issues which require action,” Mr. Boyer said.
The largest of the new recalls
covers 2.4 million cars that have faulty wiring that could cause brake lights to
malfunction and not illuminate — or could illuminate the lights without the
pedal being touched.It could also disable safety
features like electronic stability control — which tries to correct for skids —
and panic braking assist, which is designed to make sure the vehicle’s full
braking power is being used in an emergency.
The vehicles with the faulty wiring
include the 2004-12 Malibu; the 2004-7 Malibu Maxx; the 2005-10 Pontiac G6; and
the 2007-10 Saturn Aura.
The recall of 2.4 million midsize
cars expands a 2009 recall of 8,000 vehicles, the adequacy of which was
challenged by federal regulators. That recall was limited to relatively few
2005–6 Pontiac G6 models for that brake-light effect.
Last year, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration started an investigation seeking more information
about why the automaker did not recall other vehicles that apparently used a
similar system.
The automaker has now decided to
recall the additional vehicles “based on data gathered through additional investigation
and field evaluation process,” a G.M. spokesman, Alan Adler, wrote in an email
Thursday.
G.M. said it knew of hundreds of
complaints and 13 accidents associated with the problem. The company said there
were two injuries, but no deaths as a result of the issue.
“Brake lights
come on for no reason, shut off cruise control,” a driver of a 2004 Chevrolet
Malibu complained to safety regulators in March 2013.
And a driver of a 2005 Malibu said
to regulators in June 2013 that he was “told by a driver who had been behind me
coming up to a traffic light that my brake lights were not working. She said it
looked as though they were on while I was accelerating and went off when I was
stopping.”
In 2008, the automaker told dealers
there might be a problem with the brake lights and explained how to fix the
problem. But there was no recall until 2009, when the 8,000 vehicles were
recalled.
The company is also recalling
140,000 Malibus from the 2014 model year for problems with hydraulic brakes
that could extend the stopping distance when the brakes are applied. G.M. said
it knew of four accidents in the vehicles, but was unsure whether they were
related to the brakes. There were no injuries reported, the company said.
The other
recalls cover 111,000 Chevrolet Corvettes from the 2005-7 model years for
problems with low-beam headlights; 19,000 Cadillac CTS sedans from the 2013-14
model years for faulty windshield wipers; and more than 400 full-size pickup
trucks for mechanical problems with steering gears.
REFERENCIA
G.M. Recalls Another 2.7
Million Vehicles. (2014, 15 de mayo). The New York Times. Recuperado de
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