GM’s list of recall woes grows

GENERAL Motors has added another 2.7 million cars to what is turning out to be a massive year of recalls for the brand, bringing its current fix list to about five million vehicles.

While some of the vehicles scooped up in the latest recall do cross over a previous fix notice sent out for 2.3 million late- and early-model cars, mainly with faulty ignition switches, this latest bundle of five applies to brake light wiring that can corrode in a number of models, the Chevrolet Malibu fitted with idle-stop technology that have braking problems, failing headlight relays in Corvettes, dying windshield wipers in the Cadillac CTS, and problematic tie rods in a small number of pick-up trucks that can cause them to crash.

The car-maker has already estimated a $US200 million ($A213 million) hole in its accounts for this quarter to help pay for the cost of fixing vehicles. This is on top of the car-maker saying earlier this year that recalls would cost it about $US1.3 billion.

“Customer safety is at the heart of how GM designs and produces vehicles, and these announcements are examples of two ways we are putting that into practice,” GM global vehicle safety vice-president Jeff Boyer said in a statement saying the car-maker had notified the US roads safety authority of the recall.

“We have redoubled our efforts to expedite and resolve current reviews in process and also have identified and analysed recent vehicle issues which require action.

“These are examples of our focus to surface issues quickly and promptly take necessary actions in the best interest of our customers,” he said.

GM said it was aware of several hundred complaints, 13 crashes and two injuries but no fatalities resulting from the failing tail-lights that make up the significant portion of the latest recall.

The other problems identified in the list of recalls had not caused any crashes, deaths or injury, GM said.

Holden does not sell a version of the Malibu in Australia using idle-stop technology.