General Motors is recalling over 81,000 cars because power steering systems could suddenly fail, expanding a recall last year that covered 1.3m vehicles in the United States.

The NHTSA said 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 plus 2006-2007 Pontiac G6 vehicles made between 18 April, 2006 and 30 June, 2006.

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“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 bulletin said.

Dealers will replace a torque sensor assembly.

The automaker is aware of one crash, but no injuries, related to the defect, a GM spokesman told the New York Times.

The rest of the 81,000 affected vehicles are primarily in Canada and Mexico.

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GM told the paper it was recalling the additional vehicles after an inquiry last April by Transport Canada, that country’s counterpart to the NHTSA.

Canadian regulators said some owners in Canada had complained of power steering failures on cars not included in the original recall which covered vehicles in the United States and Canada. That prompted GM to investigate, and it concluded last month that there was more than one reason that the power steering might fail so the problem covered more vehicles than expected.

The NYT said GM recalled the vehicles last March after years of trying to handle the problem quietly by sending technical service bulletins to dealers.

Those bulletins warned dealers of the problem and told them how to fix it, but only if an owner complained, an investigation by The New York Times found. The owners were not notified, as they would have been in the event of a recall.