General Motors continued with its series of recalls this week. Announced on July 23, an additional 822,000 vehicles were considered to have defects stemming from multiple parts.
According to press statements, the issues cover seats, air bags, and turn signals that were not properly welded and power steering loss. This announcement marks the company’s 60th global recall since early 2014 and pushes the total to 29 million cars and trucks.
However, the company notes that the vehicles included in this recent instance may have already been part of previous recalls.
Starting with the Chevrolet Cobalt, defects included a malfunctioning ignition switch, which resulted in 13 deaths and more accidents. Last month, recalls touched on vehicles turning off if the key carries extra weight or is bumped or if the car goes through a “sudden” incident. The list of models has had issues with automatic transmission shift cables, power steering hoses, and drive shafts, with eight crashes and six injuries occurring in response.
What has happened is, the vehicle ends up losing power, which hinders the steering and braking systems. Or, in the event of a crash, the airbag system would not activate.
Regarding the recent incident, General Motors’ Jeff Boyer, the vice president of global vehicle safety, said in a press statement: “We are bringing greater rigor and discipline to our analysis and decision making. If we identify an issue — large or small — that might affect the safety of our customers, we will act decisively.”
Although the recalls began months ago, General Motors’ engineers claim they knew these vehicles, including Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, Saturn, and GMC models dating back to 2004, had defects 10 years ago. In spite of the accident reports, the company alleges the amount was not sufficient enough to warrant a recall sooner.
