GM recalls continue to expand. It told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, today that it would recall more than 1.3 million vehicles in the U.S. for a sudden loss of electric power steering assist.
The list of the vehicles involved is daunting, and some were recalled. previously. The largest U.S. automaker said in a statement that it would take a $750 million charge in Q1 to cover the cost of GM recalls so far this year. Given the growing number of lawsuits lawsuits and a new scrutiny of safety issues at GM, both inside and out, more charges are likely.
The latest recall comes on the eve of CEO Mary Barra’s appearance in Washington tomorrow in front of a Congressional committee. Leaks out of Washington on Barra’s prepared for delivery remarks show that GM still does not have an answer to why a known problem with a defective ignition switch took ten years before a recall was issued last February.
On the latest safety defect, GM’s newly appointed safety vice president, Jeff Boyer said, “we are going after every car that might have this problem, and we are going to make it right. We have recalled some of these vehicles before for the same issue and offered extended warranties on others, but we did not do enough.”
If power steering assist is lost, a message displays on the Driver Information Center and a chime sounds to inform the driver. Steering control can be maintained because it reverts to manual steering, but much greater driver effort is required at low vehicle speeds, which could increase the risk of a crash.
Depending on the vehicle, GM will replace free of charge either the power steering motor, the steering column, the power steering motor control unit or a combination of the steering column and the power steering motor control unit. Customers who previously paid for repairs of these parts would be eligible for reimbursement.
Recalled Vehicles
- Chevrolet Malibu: All model year 2004 and 2005, and some model year 2006 and model year 2008 and 2009 vehicles
- Chevrolet Malibu Maxx: All model year 2004 and 2005, and some 2006 model year
- Chevrolet HHR (Non-Turbo): Some model year 2009 and 2010 vehicles
- Chevrolet Cobalt: Some model year 2010 vehicles
- Saturn Aura: Some model year 2008 and 2009 vehicles
- Saturn Ion: All model year 2004 to 2007 vehicles
- Pontiac G6: All model year 2005, and some model year 2006 and model year 2008 and 2009 vehicles
- Service parts installed into certain vehicles before May 31, 2010 under a previous safety recall
