U.S. agency upgrades probe into 1.7 million GM vehicles

[December 17, 2019]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Tuesday it is upgrading an investigation into 1.7 million General Motors Co <GM.N> vehicles for windshield wiper failures.

The auto safety agency opened the probe in November 2018 to see if GM needed to expand a 2016 recall of 2013 model year Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain SUVs to cover additional vehicles.

The probe covers 2010-2012 and 2014-2016 Equinox and Terrain vehicles.

NHTSA said it has seen elevated failure rates in the 1.7 million vehicles, even though GM said the recalled vehicles have a much higher failure rate.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jason Neely)

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