)
As awareness grew last year of General Motors' failure to disclose a dangerous defect in millions of older cars, its executives had a clear message for the public: Safety was GM's first priority.
By the end of the year, GM had recalled a record number of vehicles - 30 million in North America - and overhauled its safety practices.
But the company's handling of a recent steering issue sheds new light on where GM, and regulators, draw the line at what constitutes a safety issue worthy of a recall.
Specifically, owners of some of General Motors' most popular cars are complaining of a problem that they say is dangerous because the steering wheel can stick after driving in one position for long periods.
"I was driving through a construction zone when my steering wheel locked up," the owner of a 2013 Buick Verano wrote the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in December. The owner is one of more than 50 who cited a similar problem to the agency.
"It surprised me and caused me panic somewhat. The lane was very narrow and started to turn, but my steering wheel did not respond the way it should. It took a lot of effort to turn the wheels. The car got too close to the cement guardrails and collided with them." No injuries were reported.
Last July, GM sent dealers a technical service bulletin that told them how to fix the problem, but only if an owner complained to a dealer. The repair is made with a software update and is covered for 10 years or 150,000 miles from the time the vehicle was new.
The automaker alerted owners to the problem in a letter in November, saying that the steering wheel can "stick in the straight-ahead position" after driving long distances in a straight line. It did not issue a recall.
General Motors has concluded that there is no need for a recall, Alan Adler, a spokesman for the automaker, wrote in an email.
"Based on a very low rate of occurrence - ranging from less than one half to less than two incidents per thousand vehicles - and the fact that the condition is remedied when the wheel is turned, GM determined this was not a safety issue," he wrote.
Federal regulators have not seen reason to open an investigation.
"Based on the bulletin and complaint narratives, the symptoms described would be a brief, perceptible change in steering feel that has little to no effect on the driver's ability to safely steer the vehicle," Catherine Howden, a spokeswoman for N.H.T.S.A., wrote in an email.
But one former top investigator for the safety agency said that complaints about steering should always prompt a thorough investigation.
"There's a possibility this would startle an inexperienced or elderly driver with bad consequences," said Michael Brownlee, who ran the safety agency's Office of Defects Investigation from 1987 to 1991 and retired in 1997 as associate administrator for enforcement.
The problem was found on some models of the 2013-14 Buick Verano, Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Malibu.
G.M.'s decision not to recall the cars followed a similar decision that involved brakes in pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. In that case, owners complained to the safety agency that their brakes failed after the lines rusted, but G.M. has resisted issuing a recall, saying the issue is one of maintenance. About 2 million trucks from the 1999 to 2003 model years are affected.
The safety agency began looking into that issue five years ago and recently concluded its investigation after reviewing 3,645 complaints from owners including allegations of 107 crashes resulting in 40 injuries.
The agency said that while failures could significantly increase stopping distances, there was no reason for a recall because the rusted lines were a result of expected wear, particularly on older vehicles in areas where road salt is used. The agency also urged owners to routinely wash their vehicles.
Automakers have recalled vehicles over steering problems before. In February and early March, almost 400,000 vehicles were recalled by General Motors, Hyundai and Toyota because the power assist to the steering could be lost, making the vehicles harder to turn.
But regulators see the sticking problem as "significantly different" from a vehicle's losing the power assist, Ms. Howden said. "When terms like 'notchy,' 'stick,' 'slip' or 'feel' are used, it does not indicate a meaningful increase in steering effort," she wrote in an email.
Service bulletins are not intended to address serious safety issues, which by law must be handled by recalls monitored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A recall requires repairs to vehicles that have not yet experienced a problem. With a service bulletin, there are no such pre-emptive repairs.
But sending the bulletins instead of issuing recalls was an approach that G.M. used in previous years. A New York Times investigation last year found that seven recalls for serious safety problems had been preceded sometimes by years by technical service bulletins sent to dealers, a far cheaper alternative to fixing every vehicle. And federal regulators have admonished G.M. for the practice.
Even as G.M. decided not to issue a recall, owners continued to express concern to regulators.
"At highway speeds the steering sticks, making it scary to drive and dangerous," the owner of a 2013 Cruze wrote to the agency in December.
At least two minor accidents were reported but there was no mention of injuries.
In one of those crashes, the owner of a 2014 Cruze told the agency of "driving approximately 15 miles per hour, making a left-hand turn, the steering wheel seized and caused the vehicle to crash into a sidewalk."
Another 2013 Cruze owner told regulators in December that the sticking steering "requires extra exertion of force to move it in either direction. This results in the car swerving and on more than one occasion almost wrecking."
©2015 The New York Times News Service
