GM recalls more cars

The US's largest car company General Motors announced more recalls of problematic vehicles Friday, bringing its total number of recalls in North America to nearly 16.5 million.

The ignition keys and key fobs needed to be replaced on nearly 512,000 Chevrolet Camaro muscle cars from the 2010 to 2014 model years, according to GM.

Through internal testing of ignition switches, GM discovered that drivers' knees could hit the fob and knock the switch out of the “run” position, causing an engine to stall. That would disable power steering and breaks, leading drivers to loose control.

The issue, which has resulted in three crashes with four minor injuries, is not the same as a faulty ignition switch problem in Chevrolet Cobalts and other models that has caused dozens of accidents and at least 13 deaths, the company said.

GM has already recalled 2.6 million cars since February to fix this issue, which can turn off the engine while a car is moving and shut down power steering and airbag deployment.

While the Camaro problem is with the fob and not the ignition itself, GM did not say whether it could result in shutting down airbag deployment.

Furthermore, the automaker is also facing a congressional and, reportedly, Justice Department investigation over why it failed to act on the Cobalt ignition problem until this February despite knowing about it for more than 11 years.

It is also facing multiple lawsuits that analysts say could ultimately cost the firm billions of dollars in damages.

rs/sri (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)