GM Recalls Another Half-Million Cars For Ignition Switch Problems, But Different Ones This Time

(Paul Bica)

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: General Motors has issued a recall of a half-million of its cars because if the driver’s knee hits the keys while they’re in the ignition, the key can pop out, causing the car to lose power and potentially crash.

GM issued the recall of 511,528 2010-2014 Chevy Camaros this morning. The issue, they insist, is completely unrelated to the strikingly similar-sounding issue that plagued the Chevy Malibu and other models, leading to at least 13 deaths (if not more), a recall of over 2.6 million vehicles, and several massive internal and external investigations.

The new ignition defect is linked to three crashes resulting in four mild injuries, GM said in their statement.

The company also rushed to say that this is a proactive recall, and that the issues were discovered during the investigation related to that other big recall. “Discovering and acting on this issue quickly is an example of the new norm for product safety at GM,” Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Safety, said in a statement.

Given that the other ignition switch defect was basically a twelve-year-long debacle of safety and oversight failures, one would indeed hope that the “new norms for product safety at GM” are an improvement.

GM also issued three other recalls today, for Saab 9-3 convertibles, Buick LaCrosse sedans, and Chevrolet Sonic compact cars. Those recalls are for issues related to seat belt tensioning systems, transmission turbine shafts, and door chime warning systems.

Adding today’s 580,367 recalled cars onto the list, in 2014 to date GM has issued recalls on a total of 14.4 million cars sold in the U.S.

GM Proactively Announces Four New Recalls [GM press release]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist