On March 30, 1983, General Motors announced a recall of 240,000 1980 X-cars due to rear brake lock-up, a problem that causes spin-outs in sudden stops or on wet roads. Intended to end a four-year controversy over the front-wheel-drive cars’ brakes, the recall instead merely signaled the end of General Motors’ X-car cover-up. Four months later a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit charged all one million 1980 X-cars with having defective brakes, and GM with having lied repeatedly to government investigators.
