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As a result of the latest recalls, GM GM -1.83% expects to take $200 million more in recall-related charges in the second quarter, bringing the period’s total to $400 million. The latest recalled cars include: --1,339,355 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia full-size crossovers. --1,075,102 of the previous generation 4-speed automatic transmission Chevrolet Malibu from the 2004-2008 model years and Pontiac G6. --1,402 Cadillac Escalades and Escalade ESVs .

Over the weekend we titled our summary of GM's unprecedented avalanche of recalls so far in 2014 - the year in which the company's criminal practice of covering up its faulty products became a congressional scandal - as follows: "GM Set To Surpass Total Recall Record This Year." Three days later we are happy to report that while Detroit, we not only have a big recall problem, we also have a new record, after moments ago GM just announced another 4 recalls affecting 2.4 million cars. This brings the total number of vehicle investigations since the start of the year...

DETROIT — As General Motors faces a number of continuing investigations into its handling of a vehicle safety defect linked to 13 deaths, its legal department has become a focus of a broad internal inquiry into how the company handled the issue, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation. Even as G.M. acknowledged that it knew about the defect for more than a decade, it has insisted that work on the ignition problem was limited to a handful of midlevel employees. But a review of internal documents, emails and interviews paint a different picture, showing that high-ranking officials,...

Apple has determined that the sleep/wake button mechanism on a small percentage of iPhone 5 models may stop working or work intermittently. iPhone 5 models manufactured through March 2013 may be affected by this issue. Apple will replace the sleep/wake button mechanism, free of charge, on iPhone 5 models that exhibit this issue and have a qualifying serial number. The sleep/wake button is located on the top of your iPhone 5:

Toyota is recalling more than 6.5milllion cars -including 35,000 in the UK - after it discovered a number of faults. The car manufacturer found in some models airbags can deactivate, seats may move and steering columns could break, the company said today. The models involved are the RAV4, Hilux, Yaris and the Urban Cruiser.

There is a truism in Washington that was confirmed last week in Congress: Even less popular than government regulation is a regulator suspected of not doing its job. Not for the first time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — or N.H.T.S.A. (pronounced NITZ-ah) — was forced to answer for failing to protect consumers. In this case, the failure involved a defective General Motors ignition switch implicated in 13 deaths. While G.M.’s new chief executive, Mary T. Barra, took most of the heat in two days of House and Senate hearings last week, she shared the grill with the safety...

General Motors' CEO, Mary Barra, testified this week at government hearings on the deadly recall delay that contributed to at least 13 deaths of motorists driving GM vehicles with defective ignition switches. During that testimony Ms. Barra discussed one of GM's ridiculous early "solutions" for problems with ignitions turning to the off position as vehicles were being driven. GM engineers designed an insert to be placed in the keys' holes in an attempt to limit how much key chains dangled. This "fix" saved the company a few dollars in labor costs that would have been charged if they recalled...

Government Motors. Remember that one? That's a huge, overlooked detail in this whole GM recall crisis - the federal government's oversight of a company they bought out of bankruptcy four years ago and, under their nose, that same company is hiding its deadly, dirty laundry. Charlie LeDuff caught up with California Democrat Henry Waxman, who was head of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at the time of that purchase.

Almost two weeks after NLPC first requested that General Motors recall vehicles with defective power steering components , the company has agreed to the recall and finally remove the dangerous vehicles from the roads. Over 1.3 million Saturn Ions and related vehicles are included in the recall, bringing the total amount of GM vehicles recalled over the past month or so to over 6 million. The total cost to GM for the recalls will be in the billions of dollars with the latest recall probably accounting for over $1.5 billion on its own. The costs to GM's reputation are...

On Friday, General Motors expanded its recall of vehicles with an ignition switch defect, but Saturn Ions with a dangerous steering loss problem remain unrecalled, even though Chevy Cobalts and other models with the exact same defect were previously recalled. The two Congressional Committees holding hearings this week must directly ask GM CEO Mary Barra why these dangerous vehicles remain on the road. It has now been almost two weeks since we requested that Barra immediately order a recall of Saturn Ions (MY 2004 to 2007) with defective electric power steering systems. GM had previously recalled Chevy Cobalts and Pontiac...

DETROIT — Somewhere inside the two-inch ignition switch from the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt was the clue that Mark Hood was seeking. Mr. Hood, an engineer in Florida, had photographed, X-rayed and disassembled the device in the fall of 2012, focusing on the tiny plastic and metal switch that controlled the ignition. But even after hours of testing, Mr. Hood was at a loss to explain why the engine in Brooke Melton’s Cobalt had suddenly shut off, causing her fatal accident in 2010 in Georgia. It was no small matter to her family, which had hired Mr. Hood for their lawsuit...

(Reuters) - General Motors Co is recalling certain Chevrolet Cruze models for possible axle fractures, and more than 490,000 trucks and SUVs for potential transmission cooler line issues, the company said in a statement late on Friday. These latest recalls come as the head of the country's biggest automaker, Chief Executive Mary Barra, faces Congress next week regarding who is to blame for faulty ignition switches linked to crashes and at least 12 deaths. The GM Cruze recall targets the 2013 and 2014 1.4L turbo gasoline powered model to replace a right front axle half shaft that can fracture without...

Merriam-Webster.com defines compassion as, "a feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, in trouble, etc." A Google search teaming the name Mary Barra with "compassionate" pulls up a host of articles fawning over General Motors' new CEO's handling of the company's botched recalls which seem to have cost at least 12 American lives. Contrary to the media's belief that GM is a compassionate entity working in the best interests of accident victims, the facts show that the response to defects in GM vehicles and subsequent recall delays has been anything BUT compassionate. The NY Times continued its...

This letter is being sent today to GM CEO Mary Barra: We ask that General Motors (the Company) recall Saturn Ions for the model years 2004 through 2007 without further delay. These automobiles endanger the lives and safety of their drivers and passengers due to a loss of power steering, a serious problem of which the Company has been aware for several years. According to a summary of an ongoing investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): ...GM indicated that the EPS (electric power steering) system used in the subject vehicles was the same as that used...

The following letter was sent today to Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee: As your committee prepares for the upcoming House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the recent GM recall, I urge you to use every opportunity to examine what, if any, influence the U.S. government's ownership of GM has had on this troubling failure to address the dangerously flawed vehicles. In addition, we urge your committee to consider posing the following questions to panelists at your hearing: 1. In late 2009, GM sued supplier JTEKT North America for $30 million over faulty...

Chrysler Group is recalling 18,092 Fiat 500L cars in the U.S. because the transmission shifter can be delayed or stop working. […] According to documents posted Saturday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, cold temperatures can affect signals sent between the car’s main computer and the gear shifter. If that happens, the shifter may not shift out of park or the response may be delayed, increasing the risk of a crash. …

The New York Times hinted that the 11 year death toll for victims who drove defective General Motors' vehicles (that are just now being recalled) may rise from the current 12 confirmed fatalities. The Times reports, "Since 2003, GM has reported at least 78 deaths and 1,581 injuries involving the now-recalled cars, according to a review of agency records." It is not clear how many of the accidents involving one of the 1.6 million now-recalled vehicles were caused by the defect. The article does state that "the records mention potentially defective components" and "regulators appear to have overlooked disturbing...

The Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation into the decade-long failure by General Motors to address deadly safety problems in its some of its cars before announcing a massive recall last month, according to a person briefed on the matter. The preliminary inquiry by federal prosecutors in New York is expected to center on whether G.M., the nation’s largest automaker, failed to comply with laws requiring timely disclosure of vehicle defects. The probe is the latest in a widening series of investigations of G.M.'s handling of faulty ignition switches in its Chevrolet Cobalt sedan and other cars that the...

Former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Joan Claybrook, has weighed in on the deadly delay by General Motors on a recall for a defect that is alleged to have resulted in 13 deaths and 33 accidents. Ms. Claybrook appeared on the Cavuto Show on Fox Business where she blasted both GM and NHTSA for waiting 10 years to recall the defective models and went as far as saying that there should be criminal charges brought against GM by the Justice Department. Congress was questioned for its response (or lack thereof) as Cavuto started the segment by...

For Laura Christian, July 29, 2005, was the worst kind of anniversary. One year earlier, Ms. Christian had been reunited with Amber Marie Rose, the daughter she gave up for adoption at birth. But Ms. Christian did not get to call her daughter a year later. In the predawn hours that day, Amber, 16, died after her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt crashed and the air bag failed to deploy. Now, nearly nine years later, Ms. Christian knows that the air bag’s failure was the result of a defective car part. General Motors has recalled nearly 1.4 million cars in the United...