General Motors (GM) has received a substantial amount of attention recently due to a recall over a faulty ignition switch. That recall, which was initially said to affect 778,000 cars, involved 1.37 million vehicles and is attributed to at least 13 deaths. Now, the company has issued three more recalls affecting another 1.5 million vehicles. The largest of the new recalls involves 1.2 million crossover SUV models, CNN reports. These vehicles have wiring issues for their seat-mounted side airbags that cause a warning light to read “Service Air Bag”. If this light is ignored, then the airbags and other safety measures can fail when the car is struck on its side. This vehicles affected by the recall include the 2008-13 Buick Enclave and the GMC Arcadia, along with the 2009-13 Chevrolet Traverse and the 2008-2010 Saturn Outlook.
Additionally, GM recalled 64,000 Cadillac XTS full-size sedans from 2013 to 2014. The problem can result in the brakes overheating. Two fires are attributed to the defect, according to CNN. Yet a third recall was issued for 303,000 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans so that the instrument panels could be reworked for improved safety of unbelted passengers. The commercial vehicles not sold for passenger use.
These three recalls deal another harsh blow to GM, who recalled 1.37 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Pontiac G5s, Saturn Ions, Chevrolet HHRs, Pontiac Solstices and Saturn Sky models manufactured between 2003 and 2007. The defect involved an ignition switch that could switch the car out of the “run position” while driving. When this happens, access to airbags, brakes, power steering and other safety measures are unavailable. The problem has been attributed to 31 frontal crashes and 13 deaths. It is recommended that current owners of the recalled vehicles remove everything from the ignition key, as the weight of any keychain may worsen or trigger the problem.
Many are looking to sue GM for failing to warn about this potentially-deadly problem, especially given that the company was aware of the issue as early as 2004 and only just recalled these cars. Outside investigators are looking into the ignition switch problem. Governmental agencies are also probing the issue; a criminal investigation has been launched by the U.S. Attorney in New York and Congress recently said it would conduct a probe over whether or not GM failed to detect the safety issue.
