Posted in News on March 14, 2014
In a recent news release General Motors announced a recall of some of its small vehicles. The recall pertained to a defective ignition switch in some of GM’s small cars. GM had previously issued this recall, but this latest announcement nearly doubled the number of affected vehicles, from a little over 600,000 to nearly 1.4 million.
Montana residents who own and drive the following GM vehicles may find it helpful to learn more about the recall: 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2005-2007 Chevy Cobalts, 2006-2007 Chevy HHR’s, 2006-2007 Pontiac Solstice, 2007 Pontiac G5 models and Saturn Sky models. In an effort to inform car dealerships, GM issued a technical notice alerting them about the issue.
According to GM, the recall is due to a defective ignition switch wherein the switch inadvertently shuts off not only the vehicle’s electrical systems but also the engine when the ignition key is either bumped or has a bulky key ring attached to it. Since air bags are controlled by the electrical system of the vehicle, the defect ends up disabling them.
The car maker acknowledged the demise of 13 front seat passengers involved in car crashes wherein their front air bags failed to deploy. Furthermore, initially GM only recalled a couple of models, but after concerns were raised by consumer advocates who alleged that the car maker’s response was inadequate and suggested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigate the matter, GM expanded the recall to include more models.
It is important for Montana residents with the affected GM models to contact a GM car dealership for more information to see how to fix the issue. Furthermore, anyone who believes that they have suffered an injury due to the car defect may want to get more information about options for legal recourse.
Source: The New York Times, “G.M. to Expand Small-Car Recall to 1.4 Million Vehicles,” Christopher Jensen, Feb. 25, 2014