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GM Recalling Another 2.7 Million Vehicles In Five Separate Campaigns

The recalls keep rolling in from General Motors, evidently keen to avoid repeating the mistakes of the ignition-switch debacle and clean house. This time they're all coming at once, with five separate recalls announced together covering approximately 2.7 million vehicles. The largest of the five actions involves over 2.4 million units of the previous-generation Chevrolet Malibu and Malibu Maxx, Pontiac G6 and Saturn Aura in order to fix brake light wiring harness, which have been found to be susceptible to corrosion. The recall is separate from the 56k Aura sedans which GM recently recalled over faulty shift cables, not to mention the previous massive recall of 1.3 million vehicles – some of them the same models – but appears to have resulted from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation that started with the G6 almost a year ago. The second-largest campaign involves the 2014 Chevy Malibu, specifically those fitted with GM's 2.5-liter engine and stop/start system, approximately 140,000 examples of which has been found to have problematic brakes. The issue does not appear to be connected to the recall of 8k Malibu and Buick LaCrosse sedans (also involving brake woes) which we reported upon last week. Four crashes have been reported in such models, but GM admits it's not yet clear if the problem was a contributing factor in the accidents. A further 112k Corvette models from the 2005-2007 model years are being called in for problems with their low-beam headlamps resulting from a flexing relay control circuit wire that's not meant to bend. GM says it is "aware of several hundred complaints" about this issue, but notes that there have been no reports of related accidents. In addition, over 19k examples of Cadillac CTS from the 2013 and 2014 model years are being recalled over windshield wipers that might not work after a jump start. Finally, GM is also bringing in 477 examples of its 2014 Chevy Silverado, Tahoe and GMC Sierra (though not the Yukon) to fix a problem with a tie rod in its steering rack. As ever, all recall repairs will be performed free of charge, and GM is now estimating that recall-related actions this quarter will result in an estimated $200-million charge against its second-quarter earnings. Read the full announcement from GM below for further details.

J.D. Power: Mini, Lexus again offer most satisfying sales experience

JD Power has released its annual Sales Satisfaction Index Study, and once again Mini and Lexus have taken top honors. Overall, buyers are more satisfied with the auto-buying sales experience than they were last year, with those surveyed reporting an average score of 664 points on a 1,000-point scale. That's up from 648 in 2011. Dealer satisfaction also increased by five points over last year as well.
All told, Lexus brought home an index score of 737, which was high enough to put it atop the luxury brands for the second year in a row. JD Power says Infiniti came in second in that category with a score of 728 and Cadillac rounded out the podium with it's rating of 725. Speaking of Infiniti, that brand saw the single largest jump in sales satisfaction of any brand on the survey, popping up 52 index points over 2011.
Among mass-market brands, Mini ranked highest with a score of 712, followed closely by Buick with 706 and GMC farther down the line with 683. You can check out the full press release below for more information.

2021 GMC Terrain spied on GM's Proving Grounds

As the Chevrolet Equinox changes, so does the GMC Terrain. We saw shots of an updated Equinox not too long ago, and now our spy shooters have caught the GMC version of the crossover testing inside GM's Milford Proving Grounds. Similar to the Equinox, the Terrain is due for a mid-cycle refresh soon. Unfortunately, GM has this compact crossover covered up heavily to make sure we can't tell what's coming yet. The midsection of the vehicle remains the same as before, and we can even see the floating roof design outlined in the back by the camouflage. We imagine the majority of the changes will come up front with a new fascia including a different grille and headlight design. If it adopts the latest from the bigger Acadia, we'll be looking at a much more upright and butch-looking grille. That look descends from the full-size Sierra, though, so we'll see how much truck GMC wants to put in its small crossover. What will be most interesting of all is if GMC sticks to its guns with the wacky push-button shifter on the dash. The weird design has received mixed feedback, and this would be GMC's first big opportunity to respond. However, we expect most interior changes to be kept to a minimum, as this is only a mid-cycle refresh — GM completely redid everything for the full redesign in 2018. Additionally, we'll be interested to hear if the diesel will continue to be available as an option going forward. We'll likely see the refreshed Terrain sometime after the next Equinox is revealed. As it stands, this Terrain is probably a 2021 model year vehicle, and will be revealed at the tail end of this year, or in early 2020.