GM Recalls More Than One Million Vehicles

The recall affects the 3.8-liter, six-cylinder, 3800-engine models of the 1997-04 Pontiac Grand Prix, 2000-04 Chevrolet Impala, 1998-99 Chevrolet Lumina and 1998-2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 1998-99 Oldsmobile Intrigue and 1997-04 Buick Regal.

GM says that even owners who brought their vehicles in for previous repairs should return when notified.

This is the third time GM has cited an issue like this and ordered a recall in seven years, reported the Associated Press. These risks have to do with drops of oil on the exhaust manifold. There have been abotu 1,300 fires since the cars were last fixed. Three injuries came from these engine fires, and the agency concluded that all fires happened 5-15 minutes after the engines were turned off. The current problem is exacerbated by hard braking, which causes oil to slip through the valve cover gasket. On certain vehicles, oil seepage may ignite and catch on fire under the hood.

In the April recall, GM ordered dealers to replace the spark plug wire retainer to redirect any dripping oil.

The previous recalls in 2007 and 2009 included 1.1 million of the cars included in this latest recall.

This investigation resulted in the GM recall of 2008, which took back over 200,000 American cars with supercharged engines. Messages were left Tuesday for agency spokesman Gordon Trowbridge seeking comment on whether NHTSA should have noticed that the initial repairs appeared not be working. Plus, the property damage (like garages that caught fire) added to this also doesn’t help. According to a GM spokesperson, the size of this latest recall could have an impact on GM’s fourth-quarter earnings.