KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A young mom says she’s afraid for her husband to drive his General Motors car ever since she learned it’s one of the models with a faulty ignition switch that can shut off at high speeds. She wants GM to provide them with a loaner car until the problem is fixed, but when she couldn’t get a GM dealer to agree, she called FOX 4 Problem Solvers for help.
Every time Jami Zipprich’s husband starts up their 2006 Chevy Colbalt she worries.
“My husband drives the car every day,” Zipprich said. “He picks up our one-year-old from daycare. I’m terrified every day.”
General Motors has issued a recall on the ignition switch in their 2006 Cobalt and more than 1.6 million other cars worldwide, citing 12 deaths and 31 crashes blamed on the faulty switch that can cause some models to shut off while in motion.
“There is no power steering, no brakes,” Zipprich said. “You are just going at full speed.”
GM said replacement switches are not supposed to arrive until April and it could be October before every car is fixed.
“Until then we have to remove everything from the key so it’s not too heavy because that could be one of the problems and that’s all they said,” Zipprich said.
GM officials announced in a news conference that dealers will provide loaner cars to people worried about their safety, but FOX 4 Problem Solvers could find no mention of the loaner cars on GM’s recall website. When Zipprich called several GM dealers in the Kansas City area asking for a loaner vehicle, she was told no. That’s when Zipprich called FOX 4 Problem Solvers.
FOX 4 called Kansas City Attorney Scott Shachtman who advised worried car owners to make a personal visit to a local GM dealer and ask the dealer to do a full inspection of the vehicle to assure that you are not going to have an accident if you continue to drive it.
“If they can’t assure me of that then I would insist upon them providing me with a loaner car until they are able to fix it,” Shachtman said.
Zipprich decided to try calling a local GM dealer yet again. This time she got action. She’s picking up her loaner car this afternoon.
“I feel better,” Zipprich said. “I hope other people keep pushing and trying.”
