New York City, NY — October 05, 2015 — General Motors has been grappling with the fallout of its ignition switch recall for more than two years, and now the manufacturer seems to finally be reaching a settlement with federal authorities. The Associated Press reports that the company is scheduled to pay a fine by September 24, in response to a recall of 2.6 million vehicles, including models under the Chevrolet brand.

The company is expected to pay $900 million over this case, with $1 million going to the families of victims of fatal accidents connected to these autos, and $625 million dedicated to additional compensation. The agreement comes after GM received a $35 million fine from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last year, the highest civil penalty for recall-related actions.

A timeline from the AP shows the sequence of events leading to this agreement. The roots of the ignition switch recall trace back to 2002, when the offending switch design was first approved. The first death connected to these faulty systems was reported on July, 19, 2005. CEO Mary Barra reportedly didn’t learn about the switches until 2013.

Back in the 2014 NHTSA press release, acting administrator David Friedman affirmed the organization’s dedication to pursuing proper actions.

“No excuse, process, or organizational structure will be allowed to stand in the way of any company meeting their obligation to quickly find and fix safety issues in a vehicle,” he said then. “It’s critical to the safety of the driving public that manufacturers promptly report and remedy safety-related defects that have the potential to lead to deaths or injuries on our nation’s highways.”

Detroit, MI — September 19, 2015 — Owners of 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts need to be aware of possible defects that may prevent air bag deployment and pose a risk to drivers. According to the Associated Press, General Motors is recalling more than 73,000 vehicles because of this danger, after receiving word of an injury and crash that may be related to this fault. Most of the cars—59,474 to be exact— are in the United States, while 13,950 are in Canada, spreading out the regions where owners might be affected.

The Detroit News has additional details about the recall, including the mechanics behind the wiring problem that keeps the airbag from being released. As this source describes it, the sensor wire harness in the driver side door is to blame. Fortunately, drivers can rely on the vehicle alert system for warning when the air bag isn’t working properly.

“When improperly routed, the window regulator could contact the harness when the window is fully lowered and over time chafe the harness insulation,” the source says. “That could result in a short circuit preventing the driver side roof rail air bag from deploying during a crash. Dealers will inspect all suspect vehicles and any found with the condition will be repaired.”

As the source goes on to note, this is similar to other recent air bag system recalls, some of which have involved wiring problems. This comes in addition to the Takata recall, which, even though it concerns a completely different type of fault and danger to the driver, also concerns problems that will limit airbag effectiveness.

Detroit, MI — July 22, 2015 — While this blog has noted before that auto recall success is vital no matter large or small a recall is, General Motors has launched a recall that is relatively small by most recall standards. According to Transport Evolved, the manufacturer actually recalled eleven cars for a steering issue related to possible loose tie rods, but among these is what the source described as a “single solitary 2014 Chevrolet Volt electric car.” The recall also includes a lone Canadian-Market 2014 Chevrolet Cruze.

It isn’t just the small number of vehicles involved that makes this recall notable. Model years range between 2014 and 2015, with the Volt belonging to the former. The unsecured rod could detach from the steering gear entirely, due to a bolt that wasn’t fastened properly during assembly. Sometime this month, the company will notify owners as dealers replace the affected steering systems.

Writing for the source, Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield calls this action “a particularly good illustration of how automakers must notify the correct authorities of a manufacturing defect — no matter how small.” She also compares it to a similarly limited recall Nissan issued last year that only applied to hundreds of vehicles, as opposed to the sometimes millions included in major efforts.

“Both cases highlight how hard automakers and government agencies work to ensure that the car you drive is as safe as possible,” she says.”
In the same vein, dealers and owners need to trust the recall information they receive and also receive it in a timely manner. With accurate data and free related services, Recall Masters is an ideal assistant to any recall effort, major or minor.

Detroit, MI — April 24, 2015 — General Motors has taken part in a longstanding recall due to faulty ignition switches and the fire hazard they pose to vehicles, but another manufacturer is facing a similar problem. Reuters reports that the Japanese manufacturer Suzuki Motor Corporation is updating a recall that it released last month to apply to 2 million of its cars around the world, in addition to more than 1.8 million in its home country. The production years of the Suzuki vehicles the brand is recalling range over an 11-year period between 1998 and 2009.

While there have been no notices of smoking or symptoms of ignition fires in Suzuki cars outside of Japan, there are reportedly 67 reports of smoking switches to date. More than 130,000 of the globally recalled vehicles are from overseas markets. The specific Suzuki models affected by this most recent action include the Alto, WagonR and Swift.

When the original recall was released for Japan at the end of March, it was in response to 30 reports of ignition switch-related fires or smoke, more than half of which were in police vehicles in that country, the source said.

Lessening the damage of existing ignition switch problems requires efficient recall notices and direct instructions for a complete fix. The recall doesn’t appear to have any immediate affect for American customers, but because it comes at a time when the GM recalls are also in the news, it raises the issue of distinctiveness.

Dealers have to be sure they follow the specific rules of each individual recall and not assume that similar problems will always come with the same cure. Efficient recall systems that communicate the message to a wide audience will be vehicle and brand-specific to avoid future confusion.