Last year, Chrysler recalled hundreds of thousands of Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander SUVs over electrical-related safety issues. Now, General Motors is recalling about 196,000 Hummers for electrical glitches causing some units to light up on fire. GM announced the recall today. The recall was triggered when two cars went in flames.
In one of these incidents, the driver said that he smelled something funny and found a fire underneath the glove box. Though the driver made efforts to extinguish the growing flames, the Hummer still blazed, New York Times has learned.
Three people sustained minor burns from the incident. The root cause was traced to an electrical component in the heating and cooling system. This component is said to overheat, melting plastics nearby, so it may cause fire inside the dashboard.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received similar complaints from Hummer owners, but only the two units have reportedly went up in flames. Complaints dated back in 2008 according to NHTSA and at the time they only received 42.
The Hummer H3 model from 2006 to 2010 is being recalled in the U.S., along with the 2009 to 2010 Hummer H3T. The Ledger reported that dealers will replace the faulty module and wiring harness for free. GM is also reported to recall other models like 51,000 Chevys due to radio software issues.
While GM had shutdown production of Hummers in 2010 after a proposed sale to a Chinese company, USA Today reported that the company still agreed to honor warranties on the vehicles, which were assembled in a U.S. factory.
Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover is recalling 65,000 SUVs in the U.S. market over door latch issues. The British automaker traced the problem to a software glitch in the keyless entry system. They started looking at the problem in October after receiving customer complaints. Dealers will update this fix at no cost to customers.
