GM recall update

More new about GM's (General Motors) recent spate of recalls has been issued. Here is an update of the company's recent actions concerning their recent ignition switch related recall. The fault has caused several fatalities and accidents, with reports stating that the automakers knew about the issue since 2001.

GM's latest actions

In an attempt to calm consumers over the recalls, GM are offering a free rental car with insurance to those affected by their 1.6 million vehicle recall caused by faulty ignition switches. GM have struck deals with rental agencies Enterprise, Avis and Hertz to reserve thousands of loaner vehicles to serve affected customers. The company has dropped it's policy to only rent out GM models from the current or previous year, which means some owners will likely be driving competitors' cars during the repair.

Drivers who don't feel safe in their recalled vehicles can bring them to a dealer in exchange for a loaner until their car is repaired. Not only will GM cover the cost of the loaner car, it will also cover any additional insurance should the customer's own policy not offer sufficient coverage.

So far a few thousand owners have taken advantage of the exchange and a GM spokesperson has revealed that the GM recall campaign is scheduled to begin “on or about 7th April.” While it's possible a few drivers could end up in competitor's vehicles, with the spokesperson saying that, “most if not all of them will have GM vehicles.” Dealers will first take cars from their own loaner fleets, and the rental agencies have many of the automaker's models as well. “We didn't want anyone to be inconvenienced.”

What are GM doing to fix the ignition switch problem?

Delphi is supplying the new ignition switches and is running two shifts to keep up with demand and apparently the repair only takes a few hours, but depending on how many cars a dealer is servicing at once, the loaners could be out for days or weeks at a time. If GM doesn't have enough of its own models to lend, it could mean a lot of time for already disgruntled GM owners to get used to another vehicle.