General Motors forced to recall 400,000 cars

US car giant General Motors are to recall nearly 400,000 cars fitted with an engine that fails to conform to the Federal carbon monoxide (CO) standard.


Tests carried out by the USEPA show the problem lies in a 3.1 litre engine fitted in the 1993 model Chevrolet Lumina, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Supreme convertible, Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Regal models. The engine contains a remote purge control solenoid for the evaporative system, some of which were found to be defective. The Cutlass Supreme convertible vehicles, due to their increased vehicle weight, emitted even higher CO emissions.

The EPA tests found that CO levels for the cars exceeded federal standards by 0.8 grams per mile, and by 2.1gpm in the convertibles. GM will recall 366,000 vehicles in the US plus 27,639 vehicles in Canada as a result of EPA’s

investigation.

GM has agreed to recall the vehicles and to replace the potentially defective purge control solenoid with a new and improved part on all affected vehicles. The replacement will be free of charge to owners of the affected vehicles.

In addition, the convertible vehicles will also get a revised Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM) chip in the vehicle’s computer, which helps to further lower CO emissions.

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