USA - GM to recall 1.5M U.S. vehicles after Barra orders stepped up review

General Motors, under intense public pressure over its slow response to an ignition switch defect in its small cars, said today that it will recall more than 1.5 million additional vehicles for a trio of unrelated defects -- twice as many as the automaker recalled in the United States during all of 2013.

In a statement today, GM CEO Mary Barra said she had asked her executives to give added attention to their pending reviews of GM products, "bring them forward and resolve them quickly," suggesting that GM wants to put this episode behind it.

In its statement, GM said the three new recalls, combined with the ignition switch recall, will lead GM to take a $300 million charge on its first-quarter earnings report to cover the cost of repairs.

"Today's announcement underscores the focus we're putting on the safety and peace of mind of our customers," she said in the statement.

The recalls affect:

• 303,000 units of the 2009-2014 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. GM says it will rework the material used in their instrument panels to satisfy U.S. crash standards meant to protect unbelted passengers.

• 63,900 units of the 2013-2014 Cadillac XTS full-size luxury sedan. GM says it needs to fix a problem with brake booster corrosion that can lead to overheating. A spokesman said GM knows of two vehicle fires linked to the defect.

• 1.18 million units of the 2008-2013 Buick Enclave, 2008-2013 GMC Acadia, 2009-2013 Chevrolet Traverse and 2008-2010 Saturn Outlook. The wiring harness for the seat-mounted side airbags can get pinched, turning on a warning light in the instrument panel. Ignoring the warning “will eventually result in the non-deployment of the side impact restraints,” including side airbags.

A spokesman said GM does not know of any injuries or deaths related to any of these three vehicle defects.

"We are conducting an intense review of our internal processes," Barra said, "and will have more developments to announce as we move forward."