It's a day ending in the letter Y, so it's time for more General Motors recalls. This time they're recalling 2.7 million more cars, including Corvettes, Malibus, CTS-es and full-size trucks for a variety of issues.
According to GM, these are the cars affected by the latest recall:
-2.4 million 2004-2012 Chevrolet Malibu, 2004-2007 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, 2005-2010 Pontiac G6 and 2007-2010 Saturn Aura models to modify the brake lamp wiring harness. Corrosion in that harness could lead to the brake lamp failing to illuminate, as well as failure of the cruise control, traction control, electronic stability control and panic braking assist.
-103,158 C6 Corvettes for loss of low-beam headlamps.
-140,067 Chevrolet Malibus from the 2014 model year for hydraulic brake booster malfunctions.
-19,225 Cadillac CTS 2013-2014 models for windshield wiper failures.
-And 477 full-size trucks from the 2014 and 2015 model years for a tie-rod defect that can lead to a crash.
There's more potential bad news for the General here, especially that first recall of 2.4 million cars, as they say in a news release that it was another problem they've known about for some time — a problem linked to several crashes.
GM is aware of several hundred complaints, 13 crashes and two injuries but no fatalities as a result of the condition. The company issued a technical service bulletin in 2008 and conducted a safety campaign for a small population of 2005 model year vehicles in January 2009.
GM says they expect to take a $200 million loss in the second quarter, primarily due to recall-related repairs.
It's good for the owners of these cars that GM is taking charge of some of these issues, "cleaning house" when it comes to safety issues, so to speak. But another report of a known problem previously dealt with by half measures — another technical service bulletin and a "safety campaign" — is troubling.
More info on this as we get it.