General Motors car dealerships this week are supposed to start offering replacement parts for some of the 2.6 million vehicles that have been recalled due to faulty ignition switches. But the NBC4 I-Team sampled the carmaker's Southern California dealerships and found none have the critical replacement parts in stock yet.
GM has been recalling millions of its smaller cars beginning with the model year 2003, including the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion, because of a defect in the ignition switch, which can cause the engine to stall and airbags to malfunction.
The I-Team called 24 GM dealers in a five-county area of Southern California to see how many had the replacement part in stock.
Twenty-two of those dealers said they still haven’t received the replacement parts from GM to offer customers.
“We have no idea when the parts will be in,” a service worker at AutoNation Chevrolet Valencia told the I-Team. “We tell all customers to call back during the week.”
Two of the dealers hung up when we mentioned the word “recall.”
- Investigation: LA Triples Pothole Payouts
GM spokesman Greg Martin told the I-Team in an email, “We still plan to send letters this week informing affected customers that parts are arriving at dealerships and to schedule a service appointment with their dealer.”
GM has said it will offer customers loaner vehicles while their recalled cars are fixed.
The map below shows the names and locations of the dearlerships contacted by the I-Team.
