通用汽車因安全問題再召回130萬輛汽車

General Motors on Monday announced a new slew of vehicle recalls and more than doubled its estimate of the costs of recalling faulty vehicles this quarter as Mary Barra, chief executive, prepared for a grilling from sceptical US legislators.

通用汽車(General Motors)週一宣佈新召回一批汽車，此舉令該公司本季度耗費在召回有問題汽車上的成本比原先估計的高了不止一倍。同時，通用汽車首席執行官瑪麗•巴拉(Mary Barra)正準備就該公司汽車此前遇到的安全問題接受美國國會議員的質詢。

The latest recall covers 1.3m older vehicles – the most recent from 2009-10 – that GM said could experience “a sudden loss of electric power steering assist.” The vehicles add to 2.2m compact cars that GM has recalled over potentially dangerous ignition switches and another 1.5m vehicles that it recalled over other issues in mid-March.

最近這次召回涉及130萬輛較早車型（涉及的最新車型是2009-2010年款），通用表示這些車可能會“突然喪失電力轉向裝置的助動”。除了這次召回之外，通用汽車還曾因可能導致危險的點火開關召回220萬輛汽車。另外，三月中旬該公司還曾因其他問題召回150萬輛汽車。

GM said its expected charge this quarter for recalls had risen from the $300m it announced in mid-March to $750m.

通用表示召回產品所花費的費用已從3月中旬宣佈的3億美元增至7.5億美元。

The latest news adds to the pressure on Ms Barra as she testifies on Tuesday before the House of Representatives’ energy and commerce committee about safety. The committee is investigating why it took GM until February to recall the vehicles with faulty ignition switches when GM knew of some problems with the components as long ago as 2001.

這一召回消息加大了巴拉在衆議院能源和商務委員會(Energy and Commerce Committee)就安全問題做證的壓力。該委員會正在調查爲什麼通用汽車早在2001年就知道點火開關存在問題，卻直到今年2月才召回配備有缺陷點火開關的汽車。

The ignition switches could shift from “run” to “accessory” while the vehicles – all compact cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt or Pontiac G5 – were being driven. The shift could cut power to the engine and prevent airbags from deploying in a crash.

該點火開關可能會在行車時從“運行”狀態轉換至“輔助”狀態，從而切斷供給引擎的電力，並導致發生事故時安全氣囊無法彈出。這個問題涵蓋包括雪佛蘭Cobalt和龐蒂亞克G5車型在內的所有小汽車。至少12人在與該故障有關的車禍中喪生。

In prepared testimony before her appearance, Ms Barra apologises for the faults and the failure to report them earlier, while stressing that the new, restructured GM operates differently from the old company. GM underwent a government-managed bankruptcy in 2009.

在此次動力轉向裝置問題中召回的部分車型，已被包括在此前因點火開關召回的車型中。不過，還有些車型並未包括在此前的召回中，這些車型包括較早版本的雪佛蘭邁銳寶(Chevrolet Malibu)。

“I would like this committee to know that all of our GM employees and I are determined to set a new standard,” she says in the prepared testimony.

最近這次召回以及由此導致成本增加的消息傳出之際，通用汽車的股價下跌了0.89%，跌至每股34.42美元。