For the third time in less than three weeks, General Motors has admitted to more stalling problems with its ignition switches. The latest of six new recalls involves 8.4 million vehicles in North America—dating back to 1997—for “unintended movement” of the switch due to a jolt in the road, a bump from a knee, or other items placed on the keychain.
The following models are under two separate recalls: The 1997–2005 Chevrolet Malibu, 2000–2005 Impala and Monte Carlo; 1998–2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue and 1999–2004 Alero; 1999–2005 Pontiac Grand Am and 2004–2008 Grand Prix; and the 2003–2014 Cadillac CTS and 2004–2006 SRX. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has not yet received filings from GM, said the airbags would not deploy if the engines of the recalled vehicles shut off. NHTSA recommends that drivers take everything off the key, including the ring.
As with the 3.36 million large sedans and coupes and the half-million Camaros recalled in June, GM is not replacing the actual ignition switches or claiming any torque deficiency. Rather, it’s just redesigning the keys (either replacing all-in-one fobs to separate keys and fobs or inserting plastic tabs in existing keys to make the keychain hole smaller). GM said it knows of seven related crashes, eight injuries, and three deaths, although it maintains that there is “no conclusive evidence that the defect condition caused those crashes.” The key insert is the same solution GM tried, unsuccessfully, on the Chevy Cobalt and Saturn Ion in a technical service bulletin from 2005.
GM is also recalling 188,705 older-model SUVs for the third time to address electrical shorts in the driver’s master power-window switch. The 2005–2007 Buick Rainier, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender, and Saab 9-7X are included, plus the Chevy TrailBlazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL models from 2006. Smoke, melting switches, and even fires inside the driver’s door can result; GM restricted the original August 2012 recall to “Salt Belt” states, then expanded it to all remaining states in June 2013. Only now has GM finally expanded the recall again to include models from 2005.
On 20,134 GM cars—primarily sold in Canada—the electrical wiring for the optional engine-block heater can fail in “very cold conditions.” Affected models include the 2011–2014 Chevrolet Cruze, 2012–2014 Sonic, and the 2013–2014 Trax, Buick Encore, and Verano.
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On 2007–2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD pickups with auxiliary batteries, a short can melt a fuse under the hood and cause a fire, destroying any nearby electrical connections in the process. A total of 12,008 trucks are affected.
Finally, 117 models from 2014, including the Chevrolet Camaro, Impala, Buick Regal, and Cadillac XTS, have joint fasteners that may be too loose. GM did not specify what joints they were fastening nor did it provide a repair timeline for any of the above problems.