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.

Detroit, MI — April 22, 2015 — MLive recently reported on the General Motors ignition switch recall, which first began more than a year ago but only recently resulted in a final tally of claims at the end of this January. As the source states, 2.6 million vehicles have been recalled in total due to the fault, and according to recently released data, more than 4,340 claims have been received.

These claims pertain to various negative effects related to the initial ignition fault, including pervasive burns, injuries that required hospitalization and deaths, of which there were 475 claims. Of the total, 537 claims were submitted to the automaker without documentation. So far, 244 claims have been deemed “eligible,” and 1,335 “ineligible.”

This month, the Associated Press reported that GM had made progress in addressing the problem by repairing 70 percent of the affected vehicles that were still being used. It is currently slightly below the average completion rate for a recall after a year and a half, and has fixed more than half of the American vehicles that have been recalled.

Although the company has been fined $35 million for problems in the way it reported the ignition fault, Mark Rosekind of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently praised the corporation for taking the steps that it has.

“All other manufacturers and dealers should embrace the proactive approach that GM is taking,” he said.

As manufacturers improve their initial response to a vehicle fault and give dealers and consumers more information to act off of, maintaining a consistent system for recalls impacts preparedness that owners will be able to exercise. In addition, identifying the problems quickly and keeping everyone updates sets the tone for a faster-acting recall with connected actions occurring soon after.