Nearly nine months after General Motors began recalling millions of its cars for a dangerously defective ignition switch, almost half of the vehicles still have not been fixed, the New York Times reported today. The automaker said that it was increasing its outreach to owners through social media and a new call center staffed with 72 employees dedicated to contacting those who have not scheduled repairs. But even owners who requested repairs months ago have been waiting, with dealers managing wait-lists and dozens of drivers writing to federal regulators in recent weeks asking why it was taking so long. Some of them are also raising safety concerns about the drawn-out timetable, as a recent fatal accident here suggests. GM faces multiple investigations, including a federal criminal inquiry, over its decade-long delay in ordering a recall of the cars with the defective switch, which has been linked to 30 deaths. But less attention has been paid to the company’s oversight of the recall itself and the critical task of fixing the 2.36 million cars — of the 2.6 million originally recalled — that it estimates are still in use.
