General Motors appears to be trying everything it can to contact the nearly 2.4 million owners of cars recalled for a faulty ignition switch. The Detroit Free Press reports the automaker has gone to “great lengths,” to get owners to bring their cars in for repairs, reaching out to some as many as six times.
The majority of affected vehicles are Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion models built between 2003 and 2007. The ignition switch in those models is known to easily shift out of place into the “off” position, which may shut the car down at speed and cut power to the steering, brakes and other crucial components.
GM says it has opened a national call center with 72 employees dedicated to informing vehicle owners of the recall, reached out to other owners on Facebook and other social media platforms, extended dealer service hours, made loaner cars available and offered $25 gift cards to owners who completed their repairs before Jan. 1. They even offered free tickets to the Texas State Fair to owners who brought their cars into dealers in a timely manner.
Despite this substantial effort, GM is still finding it difficult to round up all the owners to perform repairs. It has fixed about 1.3 million vehicles involved in the recall, which is over half, but the remaining cars have been more difficult to track down.
“You have to deal with issues like people’s busy schedules and a lack of urgency with others,” GM spokesman Jim Cain told the Free Press. “You have to keep at it. If the vehicle is out there, we want to get it fixed.”
Part of the problem is many of the cars are in the hands of the third or fourth owner. They may have bought that car from a third-party dealership who has no affiliation with Chevrolet, Saturn or Pontiac, making it nearly impossible to find it. Additionally, around 200,000 of the cars are believed to have been scrapped or taken off the road for various reasons.
Comments
Shows you how Terrible their Commercials are!!! I think it’s time to fix this Issue starting Now, with a Full TV, Radio, Sirrius/XM, Newspaper, etc., a Full Media Blitz Baby, that way I believe it will definitely get the word out to get those vehicles in ASAP and enhance their understanding about the True power Commercials (something they are Lagging in Very Badly) and the Media, your thoughts my GM Peeps………
So, your comments are great in theory, but the reality is that each individual has to take the action. GM cannot do it for them. One of my best friends has a Cobalt and flat out told me he’s not taking it in. The other thing is that GM has all the VINs for the affected vehicles…unless there are a million cars driving around without being registered, GM can directly find the current owners.
TV, radio, and newspapers: three mediums that nobody under 30 cares about.
I agree GM has very poor marketing but this is not one.
First off when you have a crisis like this you do not plan a marketing campaign around it. You do a program where you take the information and contact the owners personally via mail and as they have in this case even phone calls.
They even have offered incentives so what more could you ask for.
At this point is it up to the owners to bring them in. But you have to count the ones not running sitting out in someone’s yard. the ones that already have so many issues the ignition is not a worry at this point as they have 4 bald tires and no brakes.
Also you a have the majority that have no issues with the key and have no danger of it failing. We are the ones that were waiting for the parts to come in in good number so we can just take it in and be done with it. Also we are just waiting for a day where we have nothing else to do to get it done.
One has to consider that 98% of these cars are not experiencing the issue and have ignitions that are not worn via big key chains and many miles. The vast majority of these cars are not having an issue.
In the end if GM gets 50% back they will be lucky. And of those not fixed with their efforts and open recall it will not be responsibility any longer if it is not repaired.
If anyone does not know at this point they get what they deserve or they have been living under a rock.