Unintended Key Rotation? Whatever you call it, there's a recall.

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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.

That's 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, he's 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

Want to Learn More?

Ignition Switch Safety Recall

In February, 2014, General Motors recalled 1.6 million vehicles because of a faulty ignition switch that has been linked to the deaths of 13 people. To make matters worse, the company may have known about the defect for over a decade.

Related Pontiac 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. 5th Generation Grand Am

    Years
    1999–2005
    Reliability
    26th of 27
    PainRank
    21.5
    Complaints
    1477
    Continue
  2. 7th Generation Grand Prix

    Years
    2004–2008
    Reliability
    25th of 27
    PainRank
    17.35
    Complaints
    393
    Continue Front 3/4 view of a Grand Prix

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