By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
March 2, 2010
General Motors said it would recall 1.3 million small Chevrolet and Pontiac models sold in North America because of a power steering problem. The defect has been linked to more than a dozen accidents so far.
The carmaker is recalling the Chevy Cobalt, along with Pontiac 4, G5, and Pursuit models.
Though it's a GM recall, its also another headache for beleaguered Toyota, since the U.S. carmaker is blaming the problem on a parts supplier that is owned by the Japanese firm. GM vice-chairman Robert Lutz told the BBC that the supplier had not met all requirements for reliability, leaving open the question of whether GM would seek to make the supplier financially responsible.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating the problem since late January, when it was flooded with more than 1,100 complaints. Among the complaints were 14 reports of accidents, one of which resulted in an injury.
ConsumerAffairs.com has also received complaints from drivers of the affected cars.
'Goes out randomly'
"In March of 2008 I purchased a brand new 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt and in November of 2009 the power steering begin having issues," Stacy, of Kansas City, Mo., reported on February 24. "It goes out randomly while driving and this is very dangerous. I have been told by the warranty company that Chevrolet accepts no responsibility for this and it is left to the consumer to pay out of pocket expenses to have it fixed. I should not be having to deal with this serious type of safety issue after only one year and 10 months."
Mildred, of Selden N.Y., reported a similar problems on her 2005 Cobolt, which she says she took in for a diagnostic test.
"I was informed of steering motor malfunction, and told the car needs the steering column replaced at cost of $1182," she told ConsumerAffairs.com. "The car is out of warranty, but this part is known by GM to by faulty."
The recall covers the 2005 to 2010 model year Chevrolet Cobalt, and 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5 sold in the US. In addition, it includes the 2005 to 2006 Pontiac Pursuit sold in Canada, and the 2005 to 2006 Pontiac G4 sold in Mexico.
Occurs mostly in older models
One GM official said the problem tends to occur more in older models than newer cars, since, he said, the problem takes some time to develop.
GM said it has been investigating the problem since last year and informed NHTSA on Monday that it was initiating a recall.
The GM recall is just the latest high profile problem for a major car manufacturer, coming in the midst of Toyota's well-publicized problems. Toyota remains in the midst of a recall of eight million vehicles to examine problems with broke acceleration and braking on some of its most popular models.
Early Tuesday the Japanese carmaker said it was repairing another 1.6 million vehicles in both Japan and the US to address a leaky oil hose.
