General Motors made changes to redesigned ignition switch parts on four models in 2003 and 2004 but did not ensure that older, potentially faulty parts were taken out of circulation, the automaker said in a filing with US safety regulators made public on Friday.
According to Reuters, that means that an unknown number of possibly flawed parts could have been used to service GM models brought in for repair at dealerships or repair shops after the redesign was made.
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A GM spokesman told the news agency no crashes, injuries or deaths had been reported in any of the four older model Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac Grand Prix and Grand Am, and Oldsmobile Alero cars that are involved in the issue.
So far this year, GM has recalled nearly 29m vehicles, including about 14.7m for ignition switch problems.
Earlier this year, GM informed regulators that one of its top engineers, Ray DeGiorgio, approved a redesigned ignition switch for small cars including the Chevrolet Cobalt but did not change the part number.
A GM spokesman on Friday told Reuters DeGiorgio also approved the redesigned ignition switches in the Grand Prix and other models to which no deaths have been linked.
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By GlobalDataIn the case of the Grand Prix, the GM letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, dated 16 July shows that in 2004, the part number of the redesigned part was not changed.
For the Malibu, Grand Am and Alero, in 2003 a redesigned part was given a new number but because the older parts were marked for use by service technicians, it is possible that they could have been put into cars brought in for repair, the letter said.
GM spokesman Alan Adler told Reuters that while older parts may have been used to fix ignition switches in cars, “nothing in our data suggests that there is a danger out there”.
The Grand Prix, Grand Am, Alero and Malibu were part of a 30 June recall that included 7.6m cars, most of them in the United States, for possibly faulty ignition switches.
The Grand Prix affected are model years 2004 to 2008, the Malibu 1997 to 2005, the Grand Am 1999 to 2005 and the Alero 1999 to 2004.
