Skip to footer

GM recalls another 7.6 million vehicles for fatal ignition flaw

General Motors will recall an additional 7.6 million vehicles in the US for an ignition flaw similar to the one responsible for several accidents and at least 13 deaths. The GM vehicles recalled Monday were involved in accidents causing at least three more fatalities. 

|
Richard Prince/Cadillac/AP/File
A 2014 Cadillac GTS is one of the models involved in a 7.6-million vehicle recall from General Motors announced Monday, June 30, 2014. The recalled cars were tied to eight injuries and at least three fatalities.
|
Courtesy of GM

General Motors’ ignition switch problems keep getting bigger, and they keep getting worse.

GM is now recalling an additional 7.6 million vehicles in the US, in six separate actions, with a range of problems similar to the ignition-switch defects that were previously found to have caused dozens of accidents and at least 13 deaths, prompting the eventual recall of 2.6 million of the company’s older-model compact cars.

The expanded recalls come on the same day the automaker announced compensation plans for the victims of accidents caused by the ignition-switch defect.

The latest recall is even more wide-ranging than the ones that have come previously, including vehicles manufactured between 1997 and 2014. Whereas the previous actions mainly involved smaller compact models, full-size sedans, and SUVs were included in Monday's announcement.

GM is aware of seven crashes, eight injuries, and three fatalities that occurred with the latest batch of recalled vehicles. But, “the fatal crashes occurred in older model full-size sedans being recalled for inadvertent ignition key rotation,” GM said in a company recall notice. “There is no conclusive evidence that the defect condition caused those crashes.”

“We have worked aggressively to identify and address the major outstanding issues that could impact the safety of our customers,” GM chief executive Mary Barra said in the announcement. “If any other issues come to our attention, we will act appropriately and without hesitation.”

The automaker expects to take a $1.2 billion charge for repairs of the recalled vehicles in the second quarter of 2014. Before the announcement, GM had estimated a $600 million charge to repair the previously recalled vehicles.

“Until the ignition recall repairs have been performed, it is very important that customers remove all items from their key ring, leaving only the vehicle key, and always use their seat belts,” the release read. “The key fob, if present, should also be removed from the key ring.”

In early June, General Motors released a chart outlining all of the company recalls issued sine the beginning of 2014 – at the time, 29 recalls had included 13.8 million vehicles in the US, for both the ignition switch problem and other issues. Since then, the company has made two more separate large-scale recall announcements: On June 17, GM recalled 3.4 million Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC vehicles for a wide range of defects, including ignition problems. Today’s announcement affected 7.6 million vehicles, though there may be some overlap with the previous announcements.

The automaker also recalled 33,000 Chevy Cruze cars last week for faulty airbags.

For a complete list of the vehicles included in today’s recall, visit today’s GM release, here, or click the graphic to the right. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to GM recalls another 7.6 million vehicles for fatal ignition flaw
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0630/GM-recalls-another-7.6-million-vehicles-for-fatal-ignition-flaw
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe