1.75 Million GM Cars Recalled to Fix Cruise Control
General Motors said Thursday that it is recalling about 1.75 million full-size and luxury cars to fix a cruise control defect that can make the cars unexpectedly accelerate.
Owners of certain 1984 to 1988 models of Oldsmobile, Buick, Pontiac, Chevrolet and Cadillac cars will be receiving letters by the end of the month telling them to take the cars to dealers for repair, which should take less than 15 minutes for each car, GM spokesman Tom Pyden said. Owners will not be charged.
In March, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started a formal safety defect investigation into the cruise control problem and asked GM to recall the vehicles, but the Detroit auto maker refused.
GM launched the voluntary recall after tests found that if a small plastic ring in the cruise control system slipped, a rod could wear through a bracket and catch on other engine parts, possibly causing the throttle to stick. The car can be stopped with normal braking, the company said.
But NHTSA spokesman Kent Milton said the agency determined that the throttle could stick more easily than GM said--even if only the plastic ring slipped out of place--and the brakes would be less effective than normal.
Milton said NHTSA has received 354 complaints from owners, including 28 crashes with 13 injuries. GM said it is not aware of any accidents or injuries caused by the defect.
The discrepancy is the result of “an honest difference of opinion as to what constitutes an accident,” Pyden said. “We both agree there is a problem. We disagree as to what causes the problem.”
“We’re glad to see (the recall) happen,” said Russell Shew of the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington-based, nonprofit consumer group. “It can certainly lead to a very serious problem if you’re driving. . . . It’s kind of a disconcerting thing.”
Cars Listed
Pyden said he didn’t know how much the recall would cost, “and I wouldn’t reveal it if I did.”
Shew estimated that the replacement part would cost less that one cent and the labor would take only a few minutes. “Probably the biggest expense to GM will be the paper work and the postage involved,” he said.
The cars involved in the GM recall are: Buick LeSabre, Electra, Park Avenue, Estate Wagon, Riviera and Regal; Cadillac Brougham, Eldorado and Seville; Chevrolet Caprice and Monte Carlo; Oldsmobile Delta 88, 98 Regency, Custom Cruiser, Cutlass Supreme and Toronado; Pontiac Bonneville G, Parisienne and Grand Prix.
Although the recall is among the largest involving repairs, Shew said, others have been much bigger, including a 1971 recall of 7 million GM cars to fix motor mounts.
