Record Recall

Since 1966, the auto recall has become part of the American scene. In close to 300 recalls, Detroit's auto industry has called back some 11 million cars for repairs and examinations necessary to correct faulty features built into them in the factories. Last week General Motors, whose "Mark of Excellence" is worn by one-half of all the cars and trucks in the U.S., announced that 4.9 million of its autos were being recalled for safety modification. It was by far the largest recall to date, accounting for one-fifth of all the GM cars produced in the past four years.

The most dangerous potential fault was found in 2.4 million Chevrolets built between 1965 and 1968. Lethal fumes from damaged or aged exhaust pipes have, in a few models, seeped into passenger compartments through opened seams and defective plugs in the underside. There have been 30 reported cases of such leakages, and carbon monoxide was blamed for four deaths in Chevrolet Impalas. Another possible danger in some 20 models is a plastic cam, used to regulate the engine's idle speed, that has at times broken and dropped into the throttle linkage, jamming the accelerator and making it difficult to stop the car.

The massive recall will cost G.M. millions of dollars, since it obviously cannot charge G.M. car owners for the company's mistakes. Postage alone for the first round of 4.9 million certified letters asking owners to bring in their cars will cost $1.7 million. Much of all this might have been avoided had the company listened to Edward A. Gregory back in 1965. Gregory, then an inspector at the Fisher Body St. Louis plant, filed four reports that poor sealing in the rear-quarter panel of Chevrolet car bodies permitted seepage of exhaust fumes.

At first, he was brushed aside, then transferred to another part of the plant. Gregory began correspondence with Consumer Crusader Ralph Nader, who presently has a $26 million invasion of privacy suit against G.M. for harassment during his famed auto-safety investigation. Nader looked into Gregory's charges and spelled them out in a press release. As a belated footnote to Gregory's three-year campaign, G.M. last week adopted his suggestions for an improved sealing technique and awarded him a $10,000 prize in Government bonds for his ideas.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.