GM recalls 1.3 million vehicles

You beat me to it.

The Autonews article I saw is almost, but not quite identical to the one you quoted. I would like to know what is different about the "electronic power steering" used in these models and the electric power steering used in the Saturn Vue I owned. I looked up the parts at Rock Auto and am a little confused. They listed three different replacement options for these cars. In addition to the Chevrolet and Pontiac models mentioned in the recall, the Rock Auto information implies the same steering system used for some Cobalts was also used on 2003-2007 Saturn Ions. I don't see those mentioned in the article. Has GM already disowned responsibility for Saturns? Maybe there are multiple steering systems used on these cars and only some are recalled.

Here is the summary from the NHTSA Defect Investigation:

ODI HAS RECEIVED 1,132 COMPLAINTS ALLEGING SUDDEN LOSS OF ELECTRIC POWER STEERING (EPS) IN THE SUBJECT VEHICLES. MOST OF THE COMPLAINTS (754) HAVE BEEN RECEIVED IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS. APPROXIMATELY 10 PERCENT OF THE COMPLAINTS ALLEGE THAT THE LOSS OF STEERING ASSIST RESULTED IN DIFFICULTLY CONTROLLING THE VEHICLE, SUCH AS DEPARTING FROM THE DESIRED TRAVEL LANE. ELEVEN COMPLAINTS ALLEGE THAT THE SUDDEN INCREASE IN STEERING EFFORT CAUSED BY THE ALLEGED DEFECT RESULTED IN A CRASH, WITH ONE ALLEGING AN INJURY. A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION HAS BEEN OPENED TO ASSESS THE FREQUENCY, SCOPE AND SAFETY CONSEQUENCES OF THE ALLEGED DEFECT IN THE SUBJECT VEHICLES.

NHTSA request to GM for documents is at:

The NHTSA Recall Database doesn't include the information on this recall yet. It will be an interesting read.

Here is the Autonews article:

GM recalling 1.3M vehicles over steering problems March 2, 2010 - 1:46 am ET

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co. is recalling 1.3 million compact cars in North America to address a power steering problem that has been linked to 14 crashes and one injury, the company said on Tuesday.

U.S. safety regulators opened an investigation on Jan. 27 into approximately 905,000 Cobalt models in the United States after receiving more than 1,100 complaints of power steering failures. The complaints included 14 crashes and one injury.

The recall covers the 2005-2010 model year Chevrolet Cobalt and

GM said it told the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the voluntary recall on Monday after concluding its own investigation that began in 2009.

GM said the affected vehicles can be still be "safely controlled" but it may require greater steering effort under 15 mph (24 kph). Drivers will see a warning light and hear a chime if the power steering fails.

"After our in-depth investigation, we found that this is a condition that takes time to develop. It tends to occur in older models out of warranty," GM Vice President of Quality Jamie Hresko said in the statement.

"Recalling these vehicles is the right thing to do for our customers' peace of mind," he said.

GM said it is currently developing a remedy to fix the problem and will notify customers when the plan is finalized.

Read more:

Perhaps, but one would think that the fact that all of a sudden it got VERY hard to steer your car would be warning enough ;)

If GM is not careful that 1.3 million could grow to be 9.5 million, like Toyota

GM is not careful and their number is up.

They are cutting Saab, Hummer, Opel and very slowly all the rest

Suppose you had an accident happened in front of you and the steering failed juat as you were trying to make a sharp turn to avoid trhe accident.....

Ed

You are confused. For about a year GM is comprised of Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC. All of it other former division, those you mentioned, are under the control of the bankruptcy court which is trying to sell off those divisions, as well as all the shut down assembly plants to pay off creditors of the old General Motors Corporation.

GM is doing fine and selling vehicles, but is not yet showing a profit because of the billions it spent to bring all of their new models to market.

If you did a search you would discover that many of GM current models are getting better fuel mileage than some of the so called fuel efficient imports with which it competes. GMs new models have been rated as good or better than some of its competitors by consumer and the buff magazines as well.

I guess you could just stop. At 15mph it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Funny, and this was not initially disclosed byt the NHTSA-GM consortium.

GM, they keep on sucking....

Or hit a pedestrian because you couldn't turn fast enough.

Brakes, stearing, no difference. Drivers count on it to work to control the vehicle.

Just because the power steering boost is lost does not mean one can no longer steer the vehicle

Once again our friend Canuck57 is telling us the sky is falling LOL

Brakes, stearing, no difference. Drivers count on it to work to control the vehicle. ________________________________________________________________

Brakes, steering, throttle. Big difference. At one time they were three separate systems. If the brakes failed, you could release the throttle and use steering to maneuver to a safe stop. Is the steering failed, you could release the throttle and use the brakes to get to a safe stop. If the throttle went wide open, the brakes had enough power to stop the car, while the steering could direct you to a safe stop.

If all systems are electronically controlled, failure of the computer can cause all systems to fail at once.

Electronic control systems in commercial airliners have redundant computers and actuators in case of false or conflicting error messages or single computer failure. Electronic control systems in automobiles do not have these protections and, in my opinion, are dangerous.

Rodan.

Not so, Fords microprocessor is redundant, by 4X, same as the space shuttle

Really - I hadn't seen that.

Ed

Egh everyone has recalls. I think GM will weather the storm and come out fine in the long run.