Unintended Ignition Key Rotation Recall

Posted on
Tagged
#engine #recall
Source
carcomplaints.com
An overhead view of a parking lot with cars neatly lined up inside parking spaces.

Americans recently celebrated the 4th of July with a weekend full of hot dogs fireworks and a massive GM recall -- which, let's face it, is becoming as All-American as apple pie. This latest action by General Motors involves 8.4 million vehicles, which is more defective cars and trucks than:

  • The combined population of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont (Yes, there are people -- not just cows -- in VT) and Wyoming.
  • The number of calories my Uncle Hank ate over the holiday weekend. Seriously, that man is a bottomless pit.

According to GM, this latest round of problems involves mostly ignition switch related issues that are responsible for at least 7 crashes, 8 injuries and 3 deaths. The full list and details can be found here.

Unintended Key Rotation

The largest part of the recall involves 7.6 million vehicles that suffer from, what GM is calling, "unintended ignition key rotation." Of course, there's another name for that too -- "unintended holy %$#! my car just shut itself off on the highway." This is dangerous and affects a wide range of cars:

  • 1997-2005 Chevrolet Malibu
  • 1998-2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue
  • 1999-2004 Oldsmobile Alero
  • 1999-2005 Pontiac Grand Am
  • 2000-2005 Chevrolet Impala
  • 2000-2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
  • 2004-2008 Pontiac Grand Prix

What To Do Next

  1. GM has not announced when the recall will begin
    It should be in the next couple months but it's probably hard to gauge when you have 29 million vehicles in your repair queue.
  2. Keep an eye on your mailbox for an official recall notice with more details
    Not literally, though. Putting your eye on the mailbox sounds painful and will probably worry the neighbors.
  3. GM is stressing the importance of removing all items from your key ring, leaving only the vehicle key
    At least until your ignition is fixed. Sorry bowling league keychain -- you have to go.
More information on carcomplaints.com

Related Oldsmobile Generations

At least one model year in these 2 generations have a relationship to this story.

We track this because a generation is just a group of model years where very little changes from year-to-year. Chances are owners throughout these generation will want to know about this news. Click on a generation for more information.

  1. 1st Generation Alero

    Years
    2000–2004
    Reliability
    18th of 18
    PainRank
    16.34
    Complaints
    959
    Continue
  2. 1st Generation Intrigue

    Years
    1998–2002
    Reliability
    17th of 18
    PainRank
    4.12
    Complaints
    88
    Continue

Have a complaint about your vehicle?

The best way to find out what's wrong with a vehicle is from the people who drive them. Not only do owner complaints help us rank vehicles by reliability, but they're often used to spark class-action lawsuits and warranty extensions. Plus, they're a great way to vent.

Add a complaint