GM Recalls Even More Cars
Things are going from bad to worse for GM. Right in the middle of their huge Ignition-Switch-May-Turn-Itself-Off-And-Prevent-Airbags-From-Deploying scandal, problems in other vehicles are forcing them to recall another batch of faulty cars and trucks.
They started by asking dealerships to stop selling Cruzes while they checked some new reports. They then decided to recall 172,000 cars. 2013-2014 Chevrolet Cruzes equipped with the 1.4 liter turbo engine were assembled with a faulty right half-shaft on the front axle. The part can literally snap in two, causing the car to lose all power. GM knows about several dozens of cases where Cruzes came in for a repair, and they were fitted with another faulty half-shaft.
Then, nearly half a million pickup trucks and full-size SUVs had to be urgently repaired. An oil line from the transmission cooling system was sloppily installed, and with vibration from the road it could come loose and spill oil over the exhaust system. This is a major fire hazard, and so far three cases of trucks self-immolating have been reported, although thankfully no one was injured. This recall is for all 2014 Chevy Silverado, 2014 GMC Sierra, and 2015 Chevy Tahoe/Suburban and 2015 GMC Yukon models.
And now, a power-steering problem arises on 1.3 million vehicles. The system may fail at any time, which can make the car hard to steer and cause a crash, especially if the power-steering fails in the middle of a curve. This recall is for all 2004-05 Malibu and some 2006-09 models, all 2004-2005 and some 2006 Malibu Maxx models, some non-turbo 2009-2010 HHRs, some 2010 Cobalt/G5 models, some 2008-2009 Saturn Auras, all 2004-07 Saturn Ions, and all 2005 and some 2006, 2008 and 2009 Pontiac G6s.
According to GM, these massive recalls show that they are now more focused on the protection of their clients. They will now recall cars without going through a lengthy evaluation process.
But there is a silver lining to everything: if you own a Cobalt or a G5, you can go to your dealership and have TWO possibly deadly problems fixed in one visit!