Federal regulators continue to put the pressure on General Motors. In addition to the regulatory heat over faulty ignition switches that led to massive vehicle recall, GM is now getting admonished for a faulty website offering consumer data on recall news.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into a feature of the GM website that is supposed to let drivers enter their vehicle identification number to determine if their vehicle is part of a recall. The NHTSA says the function does not work on the GM site.
The ignition switches are not the only glitch that has led to recalls. In fact, seat height adjusters, power steering and other problems have led to the largest amount of vehicles ever recalled by the company, as was reported in a recent Tech Times article. Almost 30 million cars are involved in their recall, which affected more than 700,000 vehicles. Now there seems to be a federal probe into the effectiveness of the company's website to address the problems.
GM stated it was aware of the VIN number issue on the website and said it was working on a fix, according to a recent report.
Many customers could not find the recall information about their vehicle on the website. With so many recalled vehicles involved, it could be that the company is having a tough time responding in a timely manner. There is an Aug. 20 deadline for car manufacturers like GM to provide information based on VIN numbers regarding recalls on their respective websites, the report continued.
The company and NHTSA said that changes were put in place and finished Friday, so consumers should be able to get reliable information when they turn to the website. However, the debacle surely didn't do much to help GM regain its reputation after such a massive recall.
"Consumers who have used GM's tool and found no recall should recheck," the NHTSA said.
A United States senator initially informed the company about the website issue and told it to make the proper adjustments, according to reports. That was Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who had been particularly critical of GM CEO Mary Barra during Senate hearings. The hearings focused on GM's handling of ignition switch issues that dated back to at least 2001.
A total of 13 deaths have been linked to the ignition switch malfunction. The ignition switch was able to fall out of the run position and kill the engine, brakes and power steering. California has some of the busiest motor traffic in the nation.
There are expected to be a lot of claims due to the recalls and there have been compensation funds set up by lawyers who also worked on the BP oil spill debacle in gulf just a few years back.
