GM recalls a total of 17.7 million cars

By : Forum Member
Published 18th June 2014 |
Read latest comment - 20th June 2014

This seems to have drifted passed without any major fuss, reading that GM has recalled a total of 17.7 million cars in the USA, which is actually more than the total numbers of cars sold!

Seems they are having difficulty with their ignitions and it is directly linked to a few deaths over in America.

Quote from the article on MSN - full story here if you want to read it all

"GM – the world’s second-biggest car company – is replacing keys on affected cars after it was found that ignition keys carrying too much weight from heavy key rings can jump out of the "on" position if the cars hit a particularly harsh bump.

If this were to happen, it could turn the car’s engine off, disabling the power steering system and potentially activating the steering lock.

It gets worse, though. It turns out that due to the way the cars have been programmed, when the key flicks to the "off" position the vehicle’s airbags are no longer operational. This means passengers won’t have the luxury of this safety feature in the event of a resulting accident.

GM is asking all owners to remove any "excessive weight" from their key rings to try and reduce the potential for the problem to occur, but that all cars will eventually receive the fix:

"The use of a key with a hole, rather than a slotted key, addresses the concern of unintended key rotation due to a jarring road event, such as striking a pothole or crossing railroad tracks."

According to GM, the current key problem has caused eight crashes and six injuries."

I have a key-less ignition - i use the key to open the car and then i put it in my pocket & i have a start/stop button - maybe more car makers should adopt this approach?


Clive
Comments

I would like Renault to recall one van, scrap or recycle it not bothered which and give me a roadworthy van...


Thanks,
Barney

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