GM to recall over 1.5 million vehicles over fire risk

The move affects a total of 1.53 million GM vehicles, consisting of Buick, Hummer, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and Saturn models, with 1.36 million of these vehicles being sold in the US, and the rest in other parts of the world. The full list of vehicles affected is listed on the right.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that the problem is due to a glitch in the wind shield wiper fluid heating system that could ignite a fire, and that GM tried to fix a similar problem on the same cars in 2008 following reports of fires resulting from an electrical short cut in the system that heats windshield-washer fluid. However, there have been reports of a recurrence in the repaired vehicles.

GM said that the supplier of the technology that helps melt ice in freezing temperatures, Micro-Heat, filed for bankruptcy in 2008 after the Detroit automaker stopped offering its HotShot wiper-fluid heater after the first recall. Subsequently, GM decided to permanently disable and remove the heated-washer fluid module altogether on the recalled vehicles. Besides removing the feature, GM will also compensate the owners of the affected vehicles with $100 for the loss of the feature.