General Motors recalled 81,123 vehicles this weekend over concerns about their electric power steering systems.
The vehicles were called back as part of an expansion of a recall that involved 1.3 million vehicles for steering problems. The latest recall, announced Feb. 14, covers 2006 and 2007 Chevrolet Malibu, Malibu Maxx and Pontiac G6 vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed on its website 69,633 of the vehicles are 2006-2007 Chevrolet Malibu and Malibu Maxx vehicles manufactured between 1 April, 2006 and 30 June, 2006 and 2006-2007 Pontiac G6 vehicles manufactured between 18 April, 2006 and 30 June, 2006.
The rest of the 81,000 affected vehicles can mainly be found in Canada and Mexico.
"In the affected vehicles, there may be a sudden loss of electric power steering (EPS) assist that could occur at any time while driving," the NHTSA bulletin said.
GM said the recall was initiated over concerns about possible sudden loss of steering. The automaker said to the Times that it was recalling additional vehicles after an inquiry last April by the Transport Canada.
Canadian regulators said some owners in Canada were reporting power steering issues on cars that weren't included on a previous recall which covered vehicles in Canada and the U.S. The reports caused GM to look into the matter and the company determined there was more than one reason the issue might occur.
GM recalled affected vehicles last March after a number of years of trying to figure out how to handle the issue quietly by sending out technical service bulletins to dealers. Bulletins just warned GM dealers of the issue and informed them how to repair the problem if a customer complained first, according to the Times.
Owners were not notified as if it were a normal recall.
One accident has been reported so far, though no injuries or fatalities had been attributed to the steering issue.
GM is now in the middle of telling all dealers in affected locations to replace a torque sensor assembly in the aforementioned vehicles, free of charge.
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