GM is down to less than 1 million vehicles needing repairs related to its ignition switch recall this year.
General Motors claims it has less than 1 million cars left to fix of the 2.36 million it recalled for a faulty ignition switch that has caused 36 deaths and 39 injuries in the U.S.
The total number has been reduced from 2.59 million by the automaker due to scrappage or vehicles that are no longer traceable by registration, according to GM.
So in the U.S., the total number is down to 1.96 million. The company said its dealers have completed the repairs in 58.1% or 1.14 million vehicles. This leaves less than 825,000 vehicles needing repairs.
Getting the vehicles in to be repaired shouldn’t be too difficult, especially for a defect that could threaten the lives of the driver and passengers. However, more than 25% of recalled vehicles never see the dealership. That number increases when it comes to older vehicles, whose owners can be more difficult to contact.
It’s a problem that GM is battling with this particular recall, which includes the 2003-07 Saturn Ion, 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2006-11 Chevrolet HHR, 2007-10 Pontiac G5, 2006-10 Pontiac Solstice and 2007-10 Saturn Sky.
While the automaker has increased the number of mailed notifications it normally sends, it’s using non-traditional means to get the attention of owners. It’s used social media outlets, such as Facebook, to try to increase response rates and is even handing out $25 gift cards to owners who bring their vehicles in before Jan. 1.
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“Smart move,” Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, told USA Today. “It’s a lot cheaper and better to give $25 to a million consumers to get a recall done than to pay a $25 million judgment on a recalled vehicle that killed a consumer because it wasn’t fixed.”
In addition, some dealers have stepped up to make getting the repairs done more easily by offering loaners or extended service hours.
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It appears on some level the effort is working as in its quarterly report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the recall effort, the number of people the automaker claimed it couldn’t reach dropped by more than 32,000 from July to October.
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There have been about 50 million vehicles recalled in the U.S. this year and GM has recalled more than 30 million of those.