General Motors is recalling 2.42 million U.S. cars, trucks and SUVs in four separate safety recalls, raising its recall total for the year to more than 13.6 million vehicles.
GM said today that it expects to take a second-quarter charge of about $400 million, mostly to cover the cost of recalls announced during the period. That includes a $200 million charge from five recalls that GM announced late last week.
The recalls announced by GM today include:
It is an expansion of a recall GM announced in late April for 2007-2008 Saturn Aura sedans, which share a platform with the Malibu and G6. GM said the transmission shift cable might fracture, which could prevent the driver from selecting a different gear, putting the car in park or removing the key from the ignition.
GM said it is aware of 18 crashes and one injury in crashes involving the Malibus and G6s. It previously said it knows of 28 crashes and four injuries involving the Aura models.
The campaigns increase GM's count since Jan. 1 to 29 recalls covering more than 13.6 million U.S. vehicles, although those figures count some vehicles more than once because they are being called back to fix multiple potential safety defects.
Included in the total is 2.6 million Chevy Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other small cars from the mid-2000s that were built with a faulty ignition switch, which GM has linked to 13 deaths. GM is expected to conclude within a few weeks an internal investigation into its handling of the problem.
Last week, GM agreed to pay a maximum fine of $35 million and to change its internal safety processes as part of a consent decree with NHTSA.
GM has said it is implementing a more-rigorous safety approach to catch problems earlier and fix ones that have lingered for years.
