NHTSA Probes GM Electric Power Steering Sudden Failure

Thousands of warranty claims and consumer complaints have prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to upgrade to an engineering analysis its investigation of electric power steering sudden failure on almost 400,000 Saturn Ion vehicles produced by General Motors. GM had previously recalled other vehicles for the same defect.

In a public filing today, NHTSA’S Office of Defects investigation said that the electric power steering (EPS) system may suddenly shutdown, resulting in an unexpected increase in steering effort while triggering an EPS warning light. Pontiac G6 and Chevrolet Malibu models may also be affected by alleged the safety defect.

The electric steering – without warning – reverts to no assist, thereby dramatically increasing the effort needed to keep the vehicle under control. Injuries and accidents have been alleged, but no fatalities have been recorded.

Complicating matters for General Motors is the EPS system used in those vehicles is the same as that used in 2005 -2010 model year Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models. In March of 2010, GM recalled more than 1 million of them – NHTSA recall No. 10V-073 – to fix a defect with the EPS assist motor.

The defect identified at that time was said to be a buildup of brush debris mixed with oil on the EPS electric motor armature, which caused the motor to stop – the same electric power steering sudden failure problem identified in the current vehicles. ODI said it has duplicated this failure in both a Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion.

Given the previous recall and ODI’s upgrade it is likely the GM will be forced to recall more vehicles for sudden electric power steering failures.