General Motors had a tough day on Friday. Late Friday afternoon GM said it recalled over 172,000 of its Chevrolet Cruzes to change the axle half shaft on the right front side that could possibly fracture then separate without any warning during normal driving.
The automaker, just hours prior to that, said it told its dealers to stop selling the Cruzes affected but at the time did not say what had been the problem.
The recall is for some of the models from 2013 and 2014 that have turbo 1.4-liter engine, the Cruzes most popular version.
General Motors is also contending with their damaging recall of other cars due to a problem with the ignition switch that causes the car to shut off and has been linked to crashes that were fatal.
GM in fact expanded its recall for the ignition switch on Friday adding over 824,000 more cars that were sold from 2008 to 2011 in the U.S. Until Friday, the recall included just cars through 2007.
On Friday, GM also announced that it confirmed another death was caused due to the problem with the ignition switch meaning there are now 13 deaths in accidents related to faulty ignition switches.
Mary Barra the CEO at GM said the recall of the switch now covers over 2.2 million cars that have been sold in the U.S.
The vehicles affected are problematic since the ignition switch can switch off the car while it is running, which disables the air bags and power steering.
Although GM recalled its vehicles, it said they could still be driven safely if the owners removed extra weight from their key rings. GM said repairs on the recalled cars would start April 7.
Federal prosecutors and Congress are currently investigating why the automaker did not announce a recall for more than a decade after it had first discovered the problem existed.
Barra, who apologized repeatedly for delays in recalling the cars, is scheduled to testify on Tuesday and Wednesday before Congress.
