General Motors expands ignition recall to 2.6 million vehicles as defect troubles worsen

The faulty ignition switches at the heart of General Motors' recall woes are proving harder to fix than the automaker expected.

On Friday, GM announced that it would expand the recall by 971,000 vehicles worldwide to cover every Chevy Cobalt and HHR, Pontiac G5 and Solstice and Saturn Ion and Sky that it built — some 2.6 million cars in all — because it couldn't otherwise be certain that those cars didn't have the bad switch.

Those switches have been linked by GM to 13 deaths, with some safety advocates contending many more people could have been hurt when their cars shut off suddenly, leading to crashes with no air bag protection. GM, whose engineers first noticed a problem in 2001 but never launched a recall until earlier this year, has been called to testify to Congress about the delay, and could face hefty fines from regulators and the Justice Department.

Meanwhile, GM revealed two new recalls late Friday night involving some 662,000 vehicles separate from the ignition switches, including one linked to a fire in a brand-new 2015 GMC Yukon SUV during a test drive.

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