For the third time in seven years, General Motors is recalling cars that can leak oil and catch fire, in some instances damaging garages and homes, reports The Associated Press.
The recall, which covers 1.4 million vehicles dating to the 1997 model year, is needed because repairs from the first two recalls didn’t work. More than 1,300 cars caught fire after they were fixed by dealers, the company said.
在先前的召回中，在2008年和2009年，通用汽车告诉车主将汽车停在外面，直到可以进行维修，因为大多数火灾发生在驾驶员关闭引擎后不久。发言人正在检查这次是否适用同样的建议。
In addition, GM will notify owners of 500,000 more cars that were not repaired in the previous recalls, spokesman Alan Adler said.
最新的召回率主要在北美，包括：1997 - 2004年的庞蒂亚克大奖赛和别克·埃加（Buick Regal）；2000-2004雪佛兰黑斑羚；1998年和1999年的雪佛兰Lumina和Oldsmobile Indigue;和1998 - 2004年雪佛兰蒙特卡洛。所有人都有3.8升V6发动机。
Over time, a valve cover gasket can degrade, allowing oil to seep out. Under hard braking, oil drops can fall onto the exhaust manifold and catch fire. Flames can spread to a plastic spark plug wire channel and the rest of the engine.
GM says it has reports of 19 minor injuries in fires caused by the cars. In 2008, a GM spokeswoman said the cars were responsible for 267 fires, including at least 17 that burned structures.
该问题在2007年首次浮出水面，当时有21个消费者投诉在某些汽车中发动机大火促使国家公路交通安全管理局进行调查。那个探测器当时发现了三项受伤。根据机构文件，发动机关闭了五到15分钟，大部分大火发生了。
The investigation led to the recall in March 2008 of more than 200,000 U.S. cars with supercharged engines. A year later GM recalled almost 1.5 million more cars that weren’t supercharged. Dealers replaced the spark plug wire channels but documents filed with the government don’t mention any repair of the oil leaks.
GM is finalizing a fix in the most recent recall. The company will use state registration databases in an effort to track down the owners and notify them by mail, he said.
The 1,300 fires were discovered when GM began investigating whether to recall some 2004 models that weren’t part of the earlier recalls, Adler said. He said he didn’t know why the recall wasn’t done sooner given the large number of fires.
公司调查人员最终在先前被召回的汽车中发现了1,345起大火，并决定“召回将为那里的车辆提出更好的解决方案，”阿德勒说。
The recall is so large that it could have an impact on GM’s fourth-quarter earnings, although Adler said that hasn’t been determined.
“Since we have not decided on the remedy, we do not know whether the cost will result in a material charge to earnings,” he said.
