On Tuesday morning, General Motors doubled the amount of faulty ignition switch recalls that have potentially been the cause of several fatal automobile accidents. There are now as many as 1.6 million cars affected.

Two weeks ago, General Motors put out a recall for around 780,000 of Chevy's Cobalt (2005-2007) and Pontiac's G5 (2005-2007). The company has since added approximately 842,000 recalls. The newly reported vehicles affected include the Saturn Sky (2006-2007), Saturn Ion (2003-2007), Chevy HHR (2006-2007), and Pontiac Solstice (2006-2007). Almost all of these vehicles were reported to have been bought and sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The recalls come after General Motors was highly criticized by safety advocates who claim GM was well aware of the problem for several years, but still waited on the recalls, regardless of the fact that they knew the defective ignition systems caused several deaths.

General Motors has admitted that a heavier-than-average key chain or rough roads can jar ignition components enough to be rattled out of position, thus shutting off the circuit board and engine power. When this happens, anti-airlock brakes, power steering, and air bags can cease to work.

According to GM's own admission, the motor vehicle conglomerate has known of the problem for at least ten years. In '05 and '06, General Motors put out a bulletin, suggesting ways for owners of the vehicles of personally fix the ignition systems with key inserts. The bulletins also made it clear that owners should not use overly heavy key chains or let too many trinkets dangle from their key rings. However, upon further investigation, it was found that less than five hundred owners received GM's special key inserts.

Over the next several years, General Motors was made aware of a myriad of accidents and deaths that occurred due the vehicle's malfunctions, but remained negligent and did not announce a recall. Safety advocates blame both General Motors and the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) for failing to announce recalls as early as seven years ago in March of 2007.

Spokespeople from General Motors North America are now offering apologies and remarks of hindsight, one saying in a press conference that the rate per thousand vehicles was so low that it didn't seem like much of a problem. GM has announced that they will replace the ignition system on any vehicle brought to their attention for free, but that it will take a while before the proper components can be manufactured.

Source: WFMJ, "GM adds 842,000 vehicles to ignition switch recall" 26 February 2014