General Motors is facing several lawsuits in regards to the recall of over 1.6 million of its small cars. Amongst them are two unique suits out of California and Alabama, which claim GM has not issued a recall for all of the affected models.
According to a filing from the federal court in San Francisco, the ignition switch problem is present on Chevrolet Cobalts through to the 2010 model year. GM’s recall currently only covers Cobalts produced in the 2005-2007 model years. The suit claims that the ignition switch in the newer cars could be shut off by a driver’s knee.
The case in Alabama alleges GM sent technical service bulletins advising dealers that the keys may “stick” or “bind” in the ignition in certain model year Cobalts and other vehicles which were not recalled last month.
“We won’t comment on specific allegations,” GM spokesman Jim Kane told Autoblog, “but we’re confident that we’ve recalled all of the vehicles that could have faulty ignition switches.”
Comments
The stick and bind has been a TSB for a long time. It had only been an issue in a small number of vehicles and has been taken care of if the car was taken in to the dealer, This has been well known on all Delta platform forums sites.
I even brought that up a couple weeks ago when this all started.
The stick and bind issue mostly left the key in and not able to be removed. Like I said not a common problem but also not one that was hidden away or one I would have expected a recall on.
Never heard of one getting shut off with a knee. How tall do you have to be to have a knee that hits the ignition that high up on the side of the column?
I expect we may see some legit issues brought up like the stuck key but for every one we will hear about 5 non legit issues to go with them.
I think any vehicle could have ignition issues if I am hitting the key with my knee, especially getting jammed in the ignition where the ignition won’t turn back to the off position.
Man, people are really reaching for reasons to get money from GM. And ambulance chasing lawyers don’t help either.
The people should be getting money from GM. GM has plenty of unearned money floating around. Not sure where they put it but it apparently isn’t going into research and development, considering they are still the lemon kings. How many people do you know who get rewarded financially for failure?
Below a hilarious bit from Schadenfreude:
“At this point, it’s impossible not to feel bad for General Motors CEO Mary Barra. It’s one thing when your company has already issued recall after recall after recall after recall after recall. It’s another thing when you have to personally apologize for the deaths of a dozen people at a press conference and stand a little more than a week away from a date with a House Oversight Committee. And then it’s another thing entirely when one of your vehicles spontaneously bursts into flames when two potential customers are test driving it.
Yep, that happened. Yesterday, two people of sound mind and body had the brilliant idea to go for a test drive in a GMC Yukon, ignoring the fact that nearly everything made by GM in the past decade has developed a sudden penchant for breaking in ways that have dire consequences for drivers. Seriously, it’s like GM vehicles have gained sentience and each and every one, without a mouth, hastens to scream, “HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I’VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE.”
These are the following manufacturers who have had recalls for fire issues in the last 4 years:
GM, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Kia, Jeep, Acura, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar and out of these, GM is in the middle for the number of vehicles being recalled for fires.
As far as reliability, JD Powers released the 2014 reliability ratings for 2011 vehicles. It is based on the number of repairs required by an owner in the last 12 months. Out of 16 categories, GM won EIGHT!!!
For the same year, manufacturers were ranked for the most recalls had that year, and GM was number 7 on the list. Ahead of them was Toyota, Honda, Ford, and others.
Honda had the most vehicles recalled in 2011, followed by Toyota in 2012 and 2013.
Here’s the 2013 recall numbers:
■ Toyota, 15 recalls, 5.3 million vehicles
■ Chrysler, 36 recalls, 4.7 million vehicles
■ Honda, 15 recalls, 2.8 million vehicles
■ Hyundai, 9 recalls, 2.2 million vehicles
■ Ford, 16 recalls, 1.2 million vehicles
■ Kia, 3 recalls, 1.1 million vehicles
■ Nissan, 17 recalls, 958,148 vehicles
■ BMW, 14 recalls, 934,047 vehicles
■ General Motors, 23 recalls, 757,677 vehicles
■ Suzuki, 4 recalls, 405,605 vehicles
So GM is number 9 on the list.
I wouldn’t say GM leads the lemonade race, not by far. But some people are on here just to hate; just like they are on every negative GM story.
Well said!
Thanks for the information.
Too bad the midia loves to hate the General.
Magirus, please stop trolling, if you have an opinion, everybody will gladly listen to you, that is if you have something educated to say. Plus the Yukon fire has already been discussed, even if there was a defective part in it, it wouldn’t spontaneously combust so early in its life cycle. Plus how would you know none of their cash is going into R&D nobody on this site actually knows what’s going on in GM right now.
Well said hafeez_h!
Thumbs up!