GM recalls almost 3 million vehicles, to take charge of up to $200 million

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co said on Thursday it has issued five more recalls, covering almost 3 million vehicles globally, and is expected to take a charge of up to $200 million.

Still dealing with the fallout from the recall of defective ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths, the No. 1 U.S. automaker said, the largest of the latest recalls cover more than 2.7 million cars for tail lamp malfunctions.

The other four recalls cover Chevrolet Malibu sedans, Chevy Corvette sports cars, Cadillac CTS sedans and full-size trucks and SUVs, and most of the affected cars were sold in the United States.

GM did not have figures immediately for how many vehicles outside of the United States were affected by the recalls, but said the new actions were a result of the higher focus the company has put on safety issues following the recall of 2.6 million vehicles for a faulty ignition switch.

"We have redoubled our efforts to expedite and resolve current reviews in process and also have identified and analyzed recent vehicle issues which require action," GM's global vehicle safety chief Jeff Boyer said in a statement.

Boyer said in an interview that the company's focus has been on the frequency and severity of any potential problems. He added GM continues to study how it handles recalls for further improvement in the process.

GM is under investigation by U.S. safety regulators, Congress, the Department of Justice, the SEC and several states for its handling of the defective ignition switch, which engineers first discovered in 2001. The automaker has been criticized for failing to detect the faulty part and recall the vehicles much earlier.

GM has its own internal probe underway about its handling of the issue and expects to complete it within the next two weeks.

The Detroit company said it expected to take a charge of up to about $200 million in the second quarter, mostly for the cost of recall-related repairs announced in the quarter.

In the first quarter, GM took a charge of $1.3 billion mostly related to the ignition switch recall.

Of the cars recalled on Thursday, more than 2.7 million were sold in the United States, more than 201,000 in Canada, more than 1,200 in Mexico and more than 76,000 exported outside North America, GM said.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky