GM Planning to End CFC Use by Mid-1990s

General Motors Corp. said today it is planning to eliminate the use of chlorofluorocarbons at its manufacturing operations worldwide and in its vehicles by the mid-1990s.

The disclosure, made in a speech by GM Vice President Gary W. Dickinson at a University of Michigan auto conference here, appears to be the most definitive plan by a major U.S. auto maker to eliminate CFCs, which have been found to damage the Earth’s protective ozone layer.

“GM is committed to eliminating the use of regulated CFC compounds at GM operations worldwide,” Dickinson said.

Automobile air-conditioning systems in particular use large quantities of Freon, which contains CFCs. As the world’s largest producer of cars, a CFC cutback by GM promises to markedly reduce emissions of CFCs into the atmosphere, analysts said.

GM also uses CFCs as blowing agents to produce foam products and as solvents to eliminate grease from auto parts.

Dickinson said CFCs will not be fully phased out until the company can redesign its air-conditioning systems, a process that will take at least four years.

“We are developing a new air-conditioning system that will be phased in starting in the 1994 model year,” he said.

Dickinson said the company is also attempting to eliminate its other uses of CFCs by 1993, but conceded that it is having difficulty finding alternatives.