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More Car Recalls From GM

More Car Recalls From GM

New York (AFP) – General Motors announced more car recalls Friday as the total number of recalls of problematic vehicles this year neared 16.5 million.

GM said the ignition keys and key fobs needed to be replace on 511,000 2011-2014 Camaros because drivers’ knees could bump the fob and cause the key to move out of the “run” position and cause the car to lose power.

The issue, which has caused three crashes with four minor injuries, is not the same as the faulty ignition switch in Chevrolet Cobalts and other models that has caused dozens of accidents and at least 13 deaths, GM said.

The faulty ignition switch problem can turn off the engine while a car is moving and shut down power steering and airbag deployment. The largest U.S. automaker has recalled 2.6 million cars since February to fix that problem.

While the Camaro problem is with the fob and not the ignition itself, GM did not say whether it could result in shutting down airbag deployment.

The automaker is under congressional and, reportedly, Justice Department investigation over why it failed to act on the Cobalt ignition problem until this February despite knowing about it for more than 11 years.

It is also facing multiple lawsuits that analysts say could ultimately cost the company billions of dollars in damages.

The revelation that GM had buried the ignition problem for years sparked an effort by the automaker to come clean on any and all problems, setting off a series of unrelated recalls of what is now almost 16.5 million cars.

On Friday GM also recalled another 65,000 cars for various issues: 2004-2011 Saab 9s, 2012 Chevrolet Sonics, and 2014 Buick LaCrosses.

AFP Photo/Stan Honda

General Motors Recalls Three Million More Cars Worldwide

General Motors Recalls Three Million More Cars Worldwide

New York (AFP) – General Motors announced a new round of recalls Thursday, totaling nearly three million vehicles worldwide, as the U.S. automaker works to speed up its response to safety issues.

GM said that five recalls affected 2.99 million vehicles, with most of them — 2.71 million — in the United States.

The company said it expected to book up to $200 million in charges in the second quarter, mainly to cover the costs of recall-related repairs.

“We have redoubled our efforts to expedite and resolve current reviews in process and also have identified and analyzed recent vehicle issues which require action,” said Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Vehicle Safety.

“These are examples of our focus to surface issues quickly and promptly take necessary actions in the best interest of our customers.”

GM shares fell 0.7 percent to $34.70 in early trade in New York.

GM said no deaths were tied to any of the defects in the newest recalls.

The largest recall involves 2.7 million vehicles to fix a brake-lamp problem linked to 13 crashes and two injuries.

Corrosion in the wiring harness “could result in brake lamps failing to illuminate when the brakes are applied or brake lamps illuminating when the brakes are not engaged,” GM said.

That recall affects the 2004-2012 Chevrolet Malibu, 2004-2007 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, 2005-2010 Pontiac G6 and 2007-2010 Saturn Aura.

GM also recalled 120,620 Chevrolet Corvettes in model years 2005-2007 due to a problem with the low-beam headlamp.

The three other recalls were for problems with brakes, windshield wipers and steering gear. They affect 21,563 2014 Cadillac CTS; 144,780 2014 Chevrolet Malibu; and 520 2014 Chevrolet Silverados, 2014 GMC Sierra light-duty pickups and 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicles.

The new recalls came as the largest US automaker faces numerous lawsuits and government and congressional investigations following a delayed recall of millions of cars for faulty ignition switches linked to 13 deaths.

The ignition problem was detected at the pre-production stage as early as 2001, but the company waited until February this year to begin recalling the affected vehicles.

GM’s chief executive Mary Barra, who took the company’s job in January, has pledged to aggressively address the automaker’s safety and quality problems.

The costs of the multiple recalls are piling up. In the first quarter, GM took a $1.3 billion charge that included a $700 million expense for the 2.6 million cars recalled worldwide for faulty ignition switches and ignition cylinders.

Other recalls, totaling 4.5 million vehicles, cost $600 million.

©afp.com / Justin Sullivan

FDA Advises Against Using Extra-Strength Acetaminophen

FDA Advises Against Using Extra-Strength Acetaminophen

By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Apparently, a Food and Drug Administration warning four months ago was missed by many physicians, pharmacists and patients, so the agency, in an unusual move, saw fit Monday to remind us: Stop writing prescriptions for, stop dispensing prescriptions for, and stop taking prescription medications containing more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen.

Your liver will thank you — acetaminophen overdose has overtaken viral hepatitis infection as the most common cause of acute liver failure. It is now the second most common cause of liver failure requiring transplantation in the United States.

“These products are no longer considered safe by FDA and have been voluntarily withdrawn” by the manufacturers, the FDA said. Or maybe not, because the FDA does not usually have to repeat itself.

Just four months ago, the agency called on doctors, dentists and pharmacists to stop recommending or writing prescriptions for drugs such as Vicodin and Percocet that contained more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen.

Over the years, the acetaminophen dose in formulations of opiate pain relievers had crept up to 600 milligrams and even 700 milligrams, because it was thought to enhance the effectiveness of the opioid medication and make it less addictive, said Shelley Ducker, director of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association’s Education Foundation.

But the FDA now believes that such high doses have demonstrated no superiority over lower doses, and that they pose dangers to the liver, especially because patients sometimes also take over-the-counter acetaminophen as well.

The voluntary withdrawal does not affect over-the-counter medications, and pharmacy shelves remain stocked with “extra-strength” over-the-counter acetaminophen (500 milligrams) for pain relief, as well as over-the-counter stalwarts as Benadryl, Excedrin, Nyquil, Robitussin, Theraflu and Vicks. And many surgeons and dentists continue to recommend these medications to patients.

Because acetaminophen has become a workhorse of our home medicine chests, it bears repeating that it may also sometimes be contained in prescription drugs we take home from dental and hospital procedures.

To ensure that those prescription medications contain only the lower dose, the FDA said pharmacists should remove the product codes for prescription medications containing more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen from their automatic reordering systems. When patients come to fill prescriptions for products containing more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen, the FDA recommends that pharmacists call the prescriber to discuss a lower dose.

As explained by Harvard Medical School’s Family Health Guide, most acetaminophen is broken down into harmless substances that are removed from the body in urine. However, “a small percentage is rendered into a compound that’s extremely harmful to cells,” the guide says.

The compound is known by the acronym NAPQI, and it’s combined with an antioxidant called glutathione to make it safe to ingest. In the case of an overdose, there’s “not enough glutathione to sop up NAPQI,” making liver damage a threat, the guide says.

Photo: massdistraction via Flickr

GM Chief Barra Faces Tough Questions Over Recalls

GM Chief Barra Faces Tough Questions Over Recalls

Washington (AFP) — General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra faces tough questioning in Congress on Tuesday over why the company ignored a faulty ignition problem for a decade despite numerous accident reports and 13 deaths.

Also in the dock will be the U.S. auto safety agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), under attack for not acting on its own evidence that the ignitions posed dangerous risks to drivers.

The hearing is the first in what is likely to be a mounting pile of legal troubles for the U.S. auto giant, including a Justice Department probe and lawsuits from people injured and families of those who died in crashes allegedly tied to the ignition issue.

Analysts have already speculated that the trouble could cost the company billions of dollars in penalties and damages, on top of the huge costs of the recalls themselves.

In prepared testimony to the investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Barra, a lifetime GM employee, said she still does not know why it took years for the automaker to act on the ignition problem.

But she pledged to find out, and to be “fully transparent” with the answers.

“More than a decade ago, GM embarked on a small car program. Sitting here today, I cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced in that program,” Barra said in her prepared remarks released in advance of the hearing.

“When we have answers, we will be fully transparent with you, with our regulators and with our customers.”

She said management would be “fully accountable” for the issue, and that GM “will do the right thing,” though what that entails is not clear.

Legally, GM’s 2008-2009 rescue by the government and bankruptcy reorganization could protect it from liabilities before that, a possibility that has angered some lawmakers.

Since February, General Motors has recalled 2.4 million cars covering model years 2005-2010 over the faulty ignitions, which can abruptly switch into “accessory” or “off” position while driving, especially when the car is jolted.

That can turn off the car’s electrical systems, including its safety airbags, preventing them from inflating in a collision.

GM says it has evidence of more than 30 accidents in which the airbags did not inflate, with the ignition apparently the problem, and 13 deaths as a consequence.

The independent Center for Auto Safety says it has tracked 303 accidents in the GM cars involved in which the airbags did not inflate.

GM’s own documentation shows that it was first aware of a problem in 2001 when the cars involved were in the pre-production stage.

And it had its first complaints from drivers over the ignition shutting off while driving in 2004.

The problem has severely shaken the company and Barra as well, who only took over as CEO in January, the first woman to ever lead a major automaker.

To fend off criticism that the company ignores safety issues, Barra has been aggressive, giving sweeping power to a new vice president for global vehicle safety, and announcing a series of separate recalls for several million more vehicles.

Those recalls — including one for 1.5 million cars announced late Monday — deal with issues of various levels of danger from power steering failure to transmission problems.

“This latest round of recalls demonstrates just how serious we are about the way we will do things at the new GM,” said Barra.

“We identified these issues. We brought them forward and we are fixing them.”

Also appearing at the hearing will be NHTSA acting administrator David Friedman, who will be queried on why the agency did not force GM to take action on the ignition problem much earlier.

In prepared testimony, Friedman said the agency first investigated an ignition-related crash in 2005.

Despite subsequent similar reports that led to a deeper look in 2007, Friedman said the agency did not have enough evidence or information to link the ignition issue to the non-deployment of airbags.

“The data available at the time of this evaluation did not indicate a safety defect or defect trend that would warrant the agency opening a formal investigation,” he said.

Daniel Roland via AFP