Product News and Recalls

GM Recalls Additional Vehicles On the Heels of Safety Issues

After recently recalling 1.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions due to a faulty ignition switch that has been linked to numerous accidents, GM stopped sales of 2013 and 2014 Cruzes. The order to stop sales of the vehicle was done without any explanation at the time, but typically signifies a decision to fix a safety issue before a car is sold, thus avoiding a later recall to fix the problem.

Chevrolet Cruzes With Dangerous Front Axle Shafts

 

The affected Cruzes are those equipped with 1.4-liter turbo engines, which can be found in 60 percent of all Cruzes sold in 2013 and 2014. GM dealers could continue to take orders, but could not deliver the vehicles to buyers.

GM later announced that the stop order involved Cruzes with front-axle shafts that may fracture and separate without warning during normal driving. GM claims that the brakes and steering would still function if the axle shaft breaks during driving, but the car would lose power to the wheels without warning.

In addition, GM announced 172,000 previously sold Cruzes would be recalled because of this problem. This recall covers 3,031 Cruzes that had been recalled in September of 2013 for the same problem.

GM Recalls Trucks and SUVs

 

An additional GM recall announced last week involved 490,200 pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. This was attributed to a loose oil line that is a potential fire hazard. The vehicles at issue are the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, and the 2015 versions of the Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, and the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL with 6-speed transmissions.

GM Adds to Faulty Ignition Recall

 

With respect to the faulty ignition issue, GM recalled an additional 971,000 cars. 824,000 of those vehicles are in the United States. The affected vehicles now include the 2005 to 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt, the 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5, the 2003 to 2010 Saturn Ion, the 2006 to 2011 Chevrolet HHR, the 2006 to 2010 Pontiac Solstice, and the 2007 to 2010 Saturn Sky. Previously the recall only involved cars up to the 2007 model year, when the ignition switch had been redesigned, but GM is concerned that older, faulty switches might have been used to repair some of the newer vehicles.