Photo of 2009 Pontiac G5 courtesy of General Motors.

Photo of 2009 Pontiac G5 courtesy of General Motors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urging car owners affected by this year’s General Motors ignition switch recalls to schedule the free repairs with their local dealer as soon as possible.

General Motors has assured the federal safety agency that GM dealers now have enough parts available to fix all the remaining ignition switches covered by the recalls. In fact, GM told NHTSA that many dealer service departments have committed to working after-hours and weekends, if necessary, to accommodate the volume of ignition switch recall repairs.

In a released statement Dec. 2, NHTSA stressed the need for vehicle owners to schedule the appointment immediately.

“There are nearly 1 million vehicles with these faulty ignition switches still in the vehicle, creating a danger of the airbags not deploying in the event of a crash,” the agency said.

The recall remedy will fix 2003-2007 Saturn ION, 2005-2010 Chevrolet Cobalt, 2006-2011 Chevrolet HHR, 2007-2010 Pontiac G5, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstice and 2007-2010 Saturn Sky vehicles.

Owners can also confirm whether their individual car needs to be repaired under this recall, or any other GM recall, by using NHTSA’s free VIN look-up tool on safercar.gov.

“Until the affected vehicle is fixed, owners should follow all of the interim safety steps advised by GM and keep in mind that the use of a single key is not a long-term solution to this serious safety problem,” NHTSA added.

At NHTSA’s direction, GM ramped up its production of replacement ignition switches in order to complete production of replacement parts ahead of its original goal of early November.

GM has repaired nearly 60 percent of the affected vehicle population covered under the recall.

For additional information, owners can visit www.gmignitionupdate.com or call 1-800-222-1020. 

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