General Motors will recall 3.2 million cars in 2014 due to an ignition switch fault

General Motors has announced that it will take a total of 3.2 million cars off the road for inspection due to a problem with the ignition. Apparently, the problem stems from the ignition system of several of its models, which use a key with a hole instead of the typical serrated keys.

Driving over uneven terrain or the weight of the keyring can cause the key to move, leading to problems and causing the engine to stall. This problem already led to the recall of several models earlier this year and caused the company trouble by having to inspect thousands of vehicles.

The number of vehicles recalled so far this year 2014 by General Motors has already reached 20 million, and the estimated cost of repairing all these problems will reach 2 billion dollars, an increase of 300 million dollars over previous estimates.

The new recall includes the 2006 to 2014 versions of the Chevrolet Impala and some versions of the Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac models launched between 2000 and 2011. Of these, only the Impala remains in production, but only the version sold to fleets and car rental companies is affected by this problem, not the retail model, which has already been revised and corrected.

The solution proposed by the company to fix the problem is to provide new keys to the owners of the affected cars, or add-on pieces for the keys they already have, which would allow the ignition to work correctly. This way, the entire ignition switch would not need to be replaced, making the fix much faster and simpler.

For the time being, GM has advised owners of its cars not yet repaired to remove from their keyrings any item that could move the key in the slot and cause the problem. The issue should be resolved over the coming weeks, and all cars will be running smoothly.

Yesterday, the company announced the recall of the 2013-14 Cadillac ATS models, the 2011 and 2014 versions of the Cadillac CTS, and some 2015 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra models.

Source | General Motors