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GM recalls 56,000 Saturn Auras for shift cable defect

After resisting federal regulators for about three years, General Motors is recalling about 56,000 Saturn Aura sedans from the 2007-08 model years because a transmission shifter cable could break, which would keep the driver from being able to shift the transmission into park.

The defect creates a rollaway hazard, according to a report the automaker posted Tuesday on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website. The company said in a news release it was aware of 28 crashes and four injuries related to the defect over the last seven years.

The action is the eighth example in about 16 months of General Motors’ recalling vehicles for which it had previously sent a bulletin to dealers telling them how to fix a problem if the owner complained.

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The safety agency began investigating the problem in May 2011, after receiving complaints from owners about “unintended movement” of their cars. Later that year, regulators said they found “multiple failure modes,” including cases in which the driver is unable to shift gears; the driver thinks the vehicle is in park, only to have it roll away; and the vehicle is in a different gear than the driver thinks it is in: For example, the transmission is in reverse while the driver thinks it is in drive. Consequently, the agency upgraded the investigation to a more serious engineering analysis.

New York Times