General Motors plans to recall 1.4 million cars, most of which had previously been recalled, because of a risk they might catch fire.
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A few of the cars affected by the latest recall are so old that GM no longer sells them. All have 3.8-liter V6 engines.
It is at least the third time in seven years GM is recalling cars due to the issue, which has caused damage to home and garages in a few cases. This is because it intends to fix a valve cover of gasket, which was subject to a degrade that led to oil leakage, and subsequently, a fire hazard. Specifically, there are 1,283,340 of them in the USA, and the affected models are the: The fault with these vehicles is that oil can drip onto the hot exhaust manifold during hard braking, which can potentially cause of fire. Flames can spread to a plastic spark plug wire channel and the rest of the engine.
The problem first surfaced in 2007, when 21 consumer complaints about engine fires in a few of the cars prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate. That probe found three injuries. GM then recalled 1.5 million additional cars in 2009, however, those additional cars weren’t supercharged.
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In the previous recalls, dealers fixed the spark plug wire channel, but documents filed with the government do not indicate a fix of the Illinois leak, the AP reports. The 1,300 fires were discovered when GM began investigating whether to recall a few 2004 models, Adler said.
