Jim Federico is the highest senior executive thus far to depart from GM because of the ignition switch fiasco. The head of product development, Mark Reuss, and CEO Mary Barra are also vulnerable in AutoInformed’s view.
The beleaguered General Motors Company has announced four new recalls of 2.4 million cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles.
This staggering number of 29 safety defect recalls – 13.5 million vehicles year-to-date – is without question the largest number of recalls in GM’s history.
Involved in one of the latest GM recalls are 1,339,355 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and 2009-2010 model year Saturn Outlook vehicles equipped with an Autoliv seat belts that can fail. Also recalled are 218,000 2004-2008 Chevrolet Aveo and Chevrolet Optra vehicles because the daytime running lights (DRL) could melt a wiring harness. In the affected vehicles, there may be heat generated in the headlamp switch or daytime running light (DRL) module and the heat could melt the headlamp switch or the DRL module.
Model year 2014 Cadillac CTS vehicles are also recalled because windshield wipers when covered in ice or snow, cause the battery to go dead and needs to be jump started. When jump-started, the wipers are inoperative.
Model year 2015 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV vehicles are recalled because a air bag module is secured to a chute adhered to the backside of the instrument panel with an insufficiently heated infrared weld. This may result in only a partial deployment of the front passenger air bag in the event of a crash.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
