Airbags

General Motors Co. (GM:US), saying it was “deeply sorry,” more than doubled the scope of a vehicle recall to fix defective ignition switches now linked to 13 deaths from airbags failing to deploy.
The recalls, limited initially to 778,562 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 cars, were widened to include 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2006-2007 Chevrolet HHRs, 2006-2007 Pontiac Solstice and the 2006-2007 Saturn Sky, the Detroit-based company said in a statement today. About 1.62 million cars are now included.

Alan Batey, president of General Motors North America, said Tuesday that the automaker’s nearly decade-long investigation of a defect for which it is now recalling 1.4 million vehicles – and which is related to 13 deaths — “was not as robust as it should have been.” The admission came as the automaker tried to explain to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration why it took so long to recall the vehicles.

General Motors will more than double the size of a recall issued this month for an ignition switch defect in some of its small cars, the automaker said in a news release Tuesday. The expansion brings the number of vehicles covered by the recall to nearly 1.4 million in the United States.

The recall is aimed at vehicles with ignition switches that could inadvertently turn off the engine and vehicle electrical system – disabling the air bags – if the ignition key is jarred or the vehicle’s operator has a heavy key ring attached to it.