GM Crisis Deepens With More Recalls, But Is Anyone Listening?

With two separate announcements last week, General Motors has—what else—recalled more vehicles.

In an announcement Friday, June 13, the company recalled more than 500,000 2010-2014 Chevrolet Camaros in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico that GM said suffer from an ignition switch issue that (somehow) “resembles but isn’t linked to” the same problem with the millions of Chevy Cobalt models recalled earlier in the year. According to a write-up by The Wall Street Journal, an internal review conducted by GM concluded that “a tall driver sitting close to the steering wheel can hit the key fob with his or her knee,” which could turn the ignition from “run” to the “accessory” position. Additionally, the WSJ report continued, GM knows of three Camaro crashes resulting in injuries that the company believes were caused by the ignition switch defect.

On Monday, June 16, 3.16 million more vehicles were recalled by GM for, of course, the much-publicized ignition switch defect.

In addition to the Camaros, GM announced Friday it has also recalled nearly 30,000 2004-2011 Saab 3-9 convertibles for “faulty driver’s seat belts” after numerous customer complaints were lodged with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More than 20,000 2012 Chevrolet Sonic vehicles with a six-speed automatic transmission and a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine were also pulled Friday for “a condition in which the transmission turbine shaft may fracture as a result of a supplier quality issue,” according to the WSJ. Finally, Friday’s announcement also covered nearly 15,000 2014 Buick LaCrosse sedans due to a “wiring splice in the driver’s door that may corrode and break.”

But wait, there’s more (because, with GM, there’s always more).

On Monday, June 16, 3.16 million more vehicles were recalled by GM for, of course, the much-publicized ignition switch defect. This announcement, which covered various 2000 to 2014 models in the U.S., was made for the same reason we’ve heard for months now: the ignition switch, whether by a heavy keychain or a driver’s inadvertent knee bump, can be jarred out of the “run” position.

According to GM’s statement cited by USA Today, the latest vehicles recalled include:

• 2005-2009 Buick Lacrosse
• 2006-2014 Chevrolet Impala
• 2000-2005 Cadillac Deville
• 2004-2011 Cadillac DTS
• 2006-2011 Buick Lucerne
• 2004-2005 Buick Regal LS and LG models
• 2006-2008 Chevrolet Monte Carlo

General Motors’ recall, the most wide-reaching in history, is now months old, which would lead the average consumer to believe drivers have had ample time to get their cars properly fixed and back on the road, right?

Unfortunately, the numbers seem to indicate that the onslaught of recall announcements have become white noise to consumers, no different than the television commercial on in the background while they’re making dinner advertising a car that’s just been recalled. Four months into one of the most spectacular automaker downfalls ever, according to the Associated Press, only seven percent of affected GM models have been repaired. With an initial recall number of 2.6 million cars, that means only roughly 177,000 vehicles’ potentially deadly ignition switch problems have been corrected. There are still millions of cars on the road—you may have even sat next to one in traffic on the way to the office this morning—whose engines could switch from the “run” position to off entirely.

While GM claims the repair delays are a result of Delphi Corp, the company responsible for manufacturing the replacement parts, having to heavily ramp up production and, in some cases, make parts for cars they have long since stopped producing, auto industry experts say, even with the deaths attributed to these problems, the sheer volume of recall announcements in recent months and years may be to blame for consumers’ widespread indifference.

“If every recall is publicly covered, it is no longer an unusual event,” University of Richmond transportation economist George Hoffer toldUSA Today. “The public will pay no attention.”

With 38 recalls this year alone, the grand total of which is expected to exceed the past decade’s annual auto industry average of 21 million cars and trucks, according to USA Today, it’s easy to understand why and how consumers simply tune all of it out. Others, including Greg Smith, chief creative officer advertising and marketing company VIA Agency, say consumers are so used to hearing the negatives associated with cars that the mass indifference to recalls is not likely to go away soon.

“The American consumer, since the recession, is getting pretty used to hearing bad news,” Smith said. “With this seemingly never-ending GM recall, perhaps we are all becoming desensitized to one more story of bad news.”