Safety Brake

GM is sued over its X-cars

When they were introduced in April 1979, General Motors’ X-model autos made a huge hit with buyers. By the end of the first model year, 1.1 million of the economical front-wheel-drive cars were sold under the names Chevrolet Citation, Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega and Buick Skylark. The X-cars, however, turned out to be less a salesman’s dream than a mechanic’s nightmare. Since they initially appeared in showrooms, they have been subjected to ten recalls, involving 967,603 vehicles (some were recalled more than once) for defects ranging from faulty fuel-tank clamps to cracked steering gears.

No part of the car has been more dangerously problem-prone than the rear brakes, and last week the Government took extraordinary steps to force GM to fix them. The Justice Department filed a $4 million lawsuit demanding that the company recall all 1.1 million X-cars made in 1980, the first model year. Moreover, the department accused GM of endangering its customers by covering up the car’s defects. The suit charges that GM failed to notify properly either the Government or car owners about the problems and that the company lied when asked about them.

The dispute over X-car brakes began in November 1979, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began an investigation after complaints that when the brakes were applied even moderately, the rear wheels tended to lock and throw the car into a skid. After much prodding, GM announced a recall of 47,371 X-cars some 20 months later. But it did not repair the brake defect successfully. Last January N.H.T.S.A. declared that about 320,000 of the cars were unsafe. In February 1983, GM ordered a second recall of 240,000 cars. N.H.T.S.A. still considered the action inadequate. The Government charges that the brake defect has caused 71 injuries and 15 deaths.

In its suit, the Justice Department contends that GM knew about the brake problem in 1978, when the car was in the prototype stage, and that although GM changed the brakes in subsequent models, it made no attempt to warn owners during the 1980 model year. In addition, the suit charges that GM gave “false and misleading responses in at least 18 instances” after N.H.T.S.A. began its Investigation. Examples: GM said it received fewer complaints than it actually had, falsely claimed that it made no written analysis of the problem and denied that it had changed the brake design in the 1981 model year.

GM has vigorously protested the Government allegations. It contends that insurance statistics show that the X-cars “have one of the best safety records for cars of their size.” The company contends that the suit was prompted by intragovernmental squabbling. Indeed, N.H.T.S.A. is under investigation for allegedly moving too slowly on the recall. Last week the General Accounting Office complained about irregularities and holdups. Colorado Democrat Timothy Wirth, who has been looking into similar charges in his House Telecommunications, Consumer Protection and Finance Committee, said N.H.T.S.A.’s record in the X-car case was one of “unconscionable delays.”

If GM fixes the brakes on the 1.1 million cars, the cost could reach an estimated $170 million. Whatever the outcome of the suit, the greater cost has been to the reputation of the car. Although GM insists that it will keep the X-cars in production, they appear to be undergoing a slow phaseout. Only 237,000 have been built during the 1983 model year, down 41% from last year. As with another problem-plagued GM model from two decades ago, the Corvair, the poor public image of the X-cars is hastening their eclipse in the showroom.