GM Issues Fix for New Key Issue in Cars Under Ignition Recall
GM is sending letters to the owners of some 2.2 million 2000s-era small cars involved in the automaker’s ignition-cylinder recall for an unrelated problem: Put the car in Park and the key may not come out when you turn it off. Although it applies to the same group of vehicles subject to one of the automaker’s most serious recalls this year, GM spokesman Alan Adler insists it’s unrelated.
Related: GM: 58 Percent of U.S. Cars in Ignition Recall Are Fixed
You can still get a stuck key out of many cars by pressing a plunger under the steering column. But it’s an inconvenient procedure, as depicted above in the owner’s manual for a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt. GM’s fix? Replace the console-mounted automatic transmission shifter, which can fail to send an electrical signal to the ignition when the car is put in Park. That signal allows you to rotate the key from the Run position into the Lock position and remove it, the automaker said in an emailed statement.
The problem only occurs in “3 to 4 percent of the vehicles,” Adler said, but GM is sending letters to owners of all 2.2 million cars in the original recall. That figure comes from 2.59 million cars worldwide — the vast majority in the U.S. and Canada — under the ignition-switch recall, minus cars with manual transmissions, which don’t have the problem, and cars that have been scrapped. If owners experience the sticking key, they can bring their vehicles into any GM dealer (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet or GMC) and get the transmission shifter replaced for free.
Affected models include the 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2006-11 Chevrolet HHR, 2006-10 Pontiac Solstice, 2007-10 Pontiac G5, 2005-06 Pontiac G4 (Pursuit in Canada), 2007-10 Saturn Sky and 2003-07 Saturn Ion, according to GM’s statement. The automaker will also extend the vehicle warranty for keys that get stuck to 15 years after their original service date.
“GM knows of no crashes, injuries or fatalities related to the issue,” the statement said. “Only customers who experience the sticking keys issue should contact a dealer.”
GM decided to issue the letters after reviewing some 40 complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Adler said.
“We’re seeing this issue both before the cars are fixed [for the ignition recall] and after,” he said. “The investigation said, well, it’s not the ignition cylinder and it’s not the ignition switch.”
At worst, the situation will result in a dead battery.
“It’s not a safety issue,” Adler said. “You’ve parked the vehicle. Now you can’t get the key out.”
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