Surprise, surprise. General Motors has announced yet another round of recalls, with the latest call-back covering 717,950 vehicles in the U.S.
The Detroit automaker announced six recalls Wednesday afternoon, bringing its total to 60 so far this year, covering nearly 30 million vehicles.
Wednesday’s recalls include one covering more than 400,000 cars with model years ranging from 2010 to 2012 made under the Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain model names, as well as Buick Regal and LaCrosse models. Those vehicles are being called back due to an issue that could cause the seats’ height adjuster bolt to loosen or fall out. The company said it is aware of one crash and three injuries as a result of the defect, but no deaths.
Two other recalls in the group cover more than 120,000 U.S. vehicles apiece and result, respectively, from issues with seat hook brackets that may have been improperly welded, and a faulty signal that does not warn drivers if only one of two turn signal bulbs on either side of the vehicle goes out.
Jeff Boyer, GM’s VP of global vehicle safety, said Wednesday’s recalls exemplify the company’s “enhanced” safety approach. “We are bringing greater rigor and discipline to our analysis and decision making. If we identify an issue – large or small – that might affect the safety of our customers, we will act decisively,” Boyer said in a statement.
Already this year, GM (GM) has recalled more vehicles on its own than the entire auto industry did in all of 2013, with most of the Big Three automaker’s call-backs resulting from defective ignition switches that have so far been linked to dozens of crashes and 13 deaths. CEO Mary Barra has been hauled in front of Congress multiple times, including last week, to face criticism over the company’s delayed response to the ignition switch issue.
GM’s second-quarter fiscal report is set to be released Thursday and the company’s earnings are likely to be negatively affected by costs associated with the high number of recalls. The company has said it would take a $1.2 billion charge in the second quarter as a result of the recalls. GM’s numerous recalls at the start of the year forced the company to raise its expected charge for the first quarter to $1.3 billion from $750 million.
Despite the onslaught of recalls, the Big Three automaker recently reported its best June sales numbers since 2007.
