GM Recalls 511,500 Chevrolet Camaros for Engine Shutoff

Jun 13, 2014 03:29 PM EDT | Jordan Ecarma

General Motors' latest recall is for 511,528 current-generation Chevrolet Camaros in North America for problems with the key FOB that can cause the engine to turn off.

According to the automaker, the issue is unrelated to the faulty ignition switches that caused Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars to lose power while moving, Bloomberg News reported. The Chevrolet Camaro's ignition switch system meets all engineering requirements, the company said.

GM found the issue while conducting internal safety tests following the recall of nearly 2.6 million cars that has been related to more than 50 crashes and at least 13 deaths. Discovering the defect is a sign of new GM culture, an official said.

"Discovering and acting on this issue quickly is an example of the new norm for product safety at GM," Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Safety, said in the statement, as quoted by Bloomberg News.

GM is aware of three crashes resulting in four minor injuries that have been linked to this recall. The Camaro can lose power if the driver's knee bumps the key FOB, shutting off the engine. For the recall, dealers will change the Camaro's design so the ignition key and FOB are separate from each other and accidentally bumping the FOB won't switch off the engine.

The automaker has agreed to pay a $35 million fine following a federal investigation into why GM took more than a decade to address ignition switch issues in the Chevrolet Cobalt, Saturn Ion and other models.

In the wake of the ignition switch debacle, GM has recalled millions of other vehicles for unrelated issues, putting its total at around 16.5 million recalled vehicles in North America, according to the Associated Press.  

New CEO Mary Barra, who was appointed head of GM in December, has been cleared of fault related to the ignition switch problems. Barra has shaken up the company's staff and management practices following the ignition switch recall, dismissing 15 employees connected with the problem and restructuring its engineering division.

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