Report: GM pushed off Hummer recall until threat from feds

General Motors recalled about 200,000 units of its Hummer H3 utility vehicle earlier this month over a fire risk, but a new report indicates the auto giant dragged its feet for years on the problem and only issued the safety campaign after receiving significant pressure from the federal government.
GM issued the recall for 196,000 H3 SUVs and H3T pickup trucks on July 8th, but Jalopnik, citing inside sources at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, claims the Detroit automaker has been aware of the problem since at least August 2008. Since that first incident there have been a total of 73 complaints involving the H3′s blower mower, ranging from smoldering dashes to vehicle fires.

The safety issue slipped between the cracks because it falls on automakers to self report any safety defects to the NHTSA. GM essentially sat on the information for more than six years, waiting until January of this year to report the potential problem to the NHTSA.

Once brought to its attention, the NHTSA noticed that the number of complaints GM reported didn’t match the number of complaints it had in its system. Jalopnik notes that it’s unclear if it was a case of miscounting on GM’s part or if the auto giant wasn’t privy to some of the complaints in the NHTSA’s database.

At any rate, GM was said to be reluctant to issue a recall until it received this ultimatum from the NHTSA — either issue a recall or face a formal investigation. GM chose the former.

The report is particularly shocking given GM’s history of delaying critical recall campaigns. Most recently GM failed to recall cars it knew to have faulty ignition switches. The company’s failure to act in the ignition switch case resulted in 100 deaths and thousands of injuries.

Photo by Mark Elias.