GM Recalls 1.55 Million More, Investigations, Fence-Mending Ongoing

As the recall of 1.76 million General Motors vehicles over a faulty ignition switch — a recall possibly prompted by a Georgia lawyer’s own dealings — continues to hammer away at the automaker’s “new” image, and with dealers doing all they can to mend fences between GM and its customers, three separate recalls have been issued to a total of 1.55 million vehicles.

Automotive News and Bloomberg report CEO Mary Barra asked GM executives to bring forward and give more attention to any products under review at a faster clip. The result? A recall affecting the following in the United States market:

• 303,000 2009 – 2014 Chevrolet Express/GMC Savana full-size vans, whose instrument panels will be “reworked” to meet current crash standards meant to protect unbelted passengers
• 63,900 2013 – 2014 Cadillac XTS sedans, whose brake boosters may suffer from corrosion issues, leading to overheating; two fires thus far have been linked to the defect
• 1.18 million 2008 – 2013 Buick Enclave/GMC Acadia/Chevrolet Traverse/Saturn Outlook crossovers, whose wiring harnesses for the seat-mounted side airbags may be pinched, leading to non-deployment

Meanwhile, dealers are preparing for next month, when customers whose vehicles fall under the ignition switch recall will begin arriving to have the issue fixed. Though the repair will take around 30 minutes to complete, customers will be offered loaner cars if needed, as well as towing services and, should the customer wish to replace the car rather than the switch, a $500 discount toward a new car.

In turn, dealers will be at the front line of mending the fence between “New GM” and customers affected by the recall. Sam Slaughter, owner of Detroit-based Sellers Buick-GMC, says dealers will need to place the ignition repairs at the top of their service schedules, as well as lend a sympathetic ear to customers feeling burned by the automaker.

Meanwhile, Virginia-based Chevrolet-Cadillac dealer Jim Stutzman worries the recall, as transparent as it has been as of late, is throwing a spanner into the works:

It seems like every time we start to move forward, another shoe drops that puts us right back into that world view that says “These guys are total screw-ups. They just can’t operate like Honda or Toyota.” It’s a shame.

That said, the recall may have been delayed longer, and affected fewer customers, had not Georgia lawyer Lance Cooper — who had filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against GM on behalf of the family of Brooke Melton, whose 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt lost power due the faulty switch, ultimately leading to her death — pushed U.S. government regulators into looking closer into the issue via a letter issued shortly after the first recall of 800,000 vehicles.

In the lawsuit, Cooper procured more than 32,000 pages of similar lawsuits and other documents, as well as gathered depositions and assessments from several engineers and dealers regarding the switch. The lawsuit was settled last September two months before the suit’s trial date for an undisclosed amount, though a related suit — focused on Thornton Chevrolet and their failure to correct the problem that led to Melton’s death — could still go to trial.