Report

GM's recall frenzy likely to continue through mid-summer?

According to Brian Johnson, an analyst at Barclays Capital who met with General Motors execs, the march of GM recalls - 2.7 million here, 2.19 million here, 971,000 here, another 1.3 million there, for instance - might step right on through the summer. The open-ended prognosis is due to GM scouring ten different reporting streams, like customer complaints and dealer reports, for possible safety issues. The five-person unit headed by product head Mark Reuss has broken the search down by issue, not make and model year, so as has already happened the same car could be called in for more than one recall.

The internal review itself isn't expected to be finished until mid-summer, and it's being carried out by a new and larger team. Previously composed of three executives from quality, manufacturing and vehicle engineering, a fourth has been added, they report to new safety chief Jeff Boyer and, according to Johnson but not confirmed by GM, that team reports to Reuss. According to a report on Johnson's note to investors regarding the situation, "the company is trying to issue recalls as soon as they learn about problems rather than waiting. That could increase frequency of recalls but will cut the total number recalled."

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