Though it took over a decade to issue a recall over the out-of-spec ignition switch at the heart of its ongoing debacle, General Motors is being thorough with the part now, performing 16 tests — in addition to the 80-plus before them — to confirm no harm will come the way of the 2.6 million owners affected.
Reuters reports the tests went as far as removing the switch indent plunger and spring for ease of ability to knock the switch out of the “run” position, only to find the key remained in place with just its unadorned key ring attached according to a filing made to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by GM earlier this month.
The filing comes on the heels of a number of parties demanding the automaker to issue a park-it-now notice to all affected customers. Both the NHTSA and a federal judge later found the automaker’s temporary fix was sound, and that no such notice was warranted.
The 16 tests — which did not include a scenario where an errant knee accidentally bumps the switch out of position — are part of an overall total of over 100 designed to prove the switch — and the vehicles to which it is installed — are safe to run until a replacement is swapped-in. The testing occurred between late February through early April of this year, conducted upon rough roads with the kind of panicked stops that would move the switch out of place with an unadorned key inserted.
Why no knee knock test? Are the results so obvious? I pull for GM, but this is a red flag.
In other news, does anyone else find the stock photo of the ignition in the Automotive News to be a touch porny? Back me up here, Derek
http://www.autonews.com/article/20140514/OEM11/140519946?template=mobile&X-IgnoreUserAgent=1
Why mien freund must thou insist on ‘pulling’ for a team who could not care less about you and I as customers – potential customers – our lives if we do buy GM – quality etc ?
As to the photos . Not nearly as ‘porny’ as the snouts on the current F1 cars . I’m amazed Trojan hasn’t jumped on this obvious opportunity and sponsored one or another of the Proboscis Monkey bunch ;-)
PS; Franz and SG says hi !
I find it odd, myself. Just want them to get straight and make customers their priority, like Barra talks about. We’ll see if the Valukas and K. Feinberg roles help her.
Ciao to SG and Franz. Still with the Matrix?
This temporary ignition switch will be a temporary resolution of the issue until said switch fails. Then GM will issue a temporary temporary ignition switch, and the cycle will continue towards infinity.
The Saturn Sky/Pontiac Solstice forums have no recorded crashes. Nor has anyone had any problems with their iginition. Blame it on a leisure car that might have less junk on the key chain? So most of us are NOT taking our cars to the dealership for this recall.
Ahem there Norm ole bean … but errr … those ‘Forums’ you are placing so much trust in are all to a number ‘sponsored’ [ as well as edited and censored] by GM .
e.g. Get yer tail end down to the dealership and get the damn thing fixed …. before it choses to ‘fix’ you …. if’n you get my meaning
Not likely as I am a Moderator. :)
Tests schmests ! Its gotten to the point where I do not trust or believe anything GM says /does/claims ! No doubt their idea of testing is to decide how much the potential results might cost them and then adjust the published results from there . Sad fact is … its been this way since the 60’s with GM . Their customers lives and well being coming in a distinct Last Place when it comes to GMs priories .
Or as I’ve so often said it ;
” When it comes to GM ….Quality is Job 100,678,983,130 … on a good day ” ;-)
> ” When it comes to GM ….Quality is Job 100,678,983,130 … on a good day ” ;-)
Or another way to put it:
“No one sweats the recalls like GM…”
“Though it took over a decade to issue a recall over what’s essentially a non-issue blown completely out of the water by our sensational media, General Motors is being thorough………….”
FTFY.
Yep… Just keep that roadside assistance number handy…
I think you’re trying to say blown out of proportion. Blown out of the water is destroyed beyond repair, killed, lost with all hands kind of stuff. There’s a lot of hype over this, but the underlying ball of crap is that they knew and hid it. Instead of facing the music with their eyes downcast when caught, GM is chasing the media hype in the hopes they can salvage their reputation with customers without actually changing the culture that thought hiding the issue was the best answer.
I’m surprised no one has commented on this story,
https://autos.yahoo.com/news/huge-gm-recall-chevrolet-corvette-141857653.html
Perhaps it’s time GM rethink Delphi as a major supplier and switch to Denso or even Omron.
The Solstice/Sky are leisure cars? As such the ignition switches are still almost new and crisp as they are not driven much. That and the fact that they sold like 7 or 8 of them. Maybe a leisure car has more trinkets on the key chain. Never studied it.