GM to recall over 1.3 million vehicles in US

General Motors seems to be in a bit of a soup over its quality levels of late. After the recent announcement regarding the faulty ignition switches in several of its models in the US, which is reported to have caused some deaths, the carmaker has now issued a recall there over power steering issues.

GM announced that it plans to recall over 1.3 million cars in the US that are at risk of losing electric power steering assist. The power steering assist, if lost, is displayed on the Driver Information Centre along with a warning sound. The vehicle can still be controlled as it reverts to manual steering but it calls for greater driver effort at low speeds and could increase the chances of a crash.

Models covered by the safety recall include the Chevrolet Malibu, Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, Chevrolet HHR (Non-Turbo), Chevrolet Cobalt, Saturn Aura, Saturn ION, Pontiac G6; and service parts installed into certain vehicles before May 31, 2010 under a previous safety recall.

Depending on the vehicle, GM will replace free of charge either the power steering motor, the steering column, the power steering motor control unit or a combination of the steering column and the power steering motor control unit. Customers who previously paid for repairs of these parts would be eligible for reimbursement.

“With these safety recalls and lifetime warranties, we are going after every car that might have this problem, and we are going to make it right,” said Jeff Boyer, the recently appointed vice-president, GM Global Vehicle Safety. “We have recalled some of these vehicles before for the same issue and offered extended warranties on others, but we did not do enough.”

Last year in India, GM had recalled 1,14,000 Taveras over irregularities in emission tests.