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 The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in
documents filed in its online database over the weekend, said it was
closing its probe into 2004 to 2007 model-year Ion cars after GM's
recall of the vehicles last month. The U.S. safety agency initially
opened a preliminary evaluation of the issue in January 2010.
GM has been criticized for not acting fast enough on the consumer
complaints surrounding recalls for the power steering issue as well
as the defective switches linked to at least 13 deaths and the
recall of 2.6 million vehicles.
The Ion was among the 1.5 million cars GM recalled on March 31 for
possible loss of power steering. Three of the six models recalled,
including the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR, are also involved in the
ignition-switch recall.
On March 31, when GM announced the power-steering recall, GM global
vehicle safety chief Jeff Boyer acknowledged the company had
previously recalled other cars with the same issue and GM "did not
do enough."
NHTSA also has come under fire for not pushing GM to recall cars
affected in the switch and power steering issues. In the Ion power
steering recall, NHTSA said it found 4,787 complaints and 30,560
warranty claims related to the issue, resulting in a complaint rate
of 14.3 incidents per thousand vehicles and a warranty claim rate of
9.1 percent.
There were 12 crashes related to the Ion steering issue, two
resulting in injuries to the drivers, according to the NHTSA
documents.
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Three of the crashes reported occurred in parking lots, six occurred
while turning at street intersections and one on a highway exit
ramp, according to the NHTSA documents. The crashes in parking lots
or intersections all occurred at speeds of less than 30 miles per
hour, while the incident on the highway exit ramp involved impact
into a guard rail at about 35 mph.
GM said if power steering assist is lost, a message is displayed on
the dash and a chime sounds to inform the driver.
"GM indicated that steering control can be maintained in manual
(unassisted) steering mode, but would require greater driver effort
at low vehicle speeds, which could increase the risk of a crash,"
according to the NHTSA documents.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; editing by Nick Zieminski)
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