General Motors has enlisted the help of Enterprise, Hertz and other rental car companies to fill in for thousands of owners who have requested loaner vehicles after the ignition switch recall.

The massive recall comprises the 2005-'07 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2007 Pontiac G5, 2006-'07 Chevrolet HHR and Pontiac Solstice, 2003-'07 Saturn Ion and 2007 Saturn Sky. The rental cars will be available for free to affected owners.

Even if no GM models are available, the company will still provide loaner vehicles, meaning that owners could be put into cars from Ford, Chrysler, Honda and more, Edmunds.com reported. The move would contradict earlier company policy.

"The preference is always to put people into a newer GM product," James Cain, a GM spokesman, told Edmunds by phone on Friday. "But, if none are available, we've waived our policy and we will put people in a competitive vehicle. Most, if not all, will get a chance to drive a new GM product."

While the recall affected around 1.6 million vehicles, just a "couple thousand" owners have contacted GM to get loaner vehicles, Cain told Edmunds.

He said that most were content to keep driving their vehicles while following GM's safety advice, which was to remove everything but the needed key from the key ring while driving the car.

The recall was related to issues with the ignition switch; vehicles reportedly would turn off without warning if the ignition was bumped or a heavy keychain was used.

GM has been investigating the ignition switch issue, which has been related to 12 deaths and 34 crashes, and has reportedly admitted that the problem first surfaced 11 years ago. 

The recall is scheduled to begin on April 7, when the company plans to have around 60,000 parts ready, Edmunds reported. Once production is well on its way, GM expects to send around 70,000 parts to dealers each week.

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