General Motors to recall 474,000 cars over automatic transmission defect

General Motors (GM) is recalling nearly 474,000 Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn cars to fix an automatic transmission problem where the vehicles can roll away unexpectedly even when on park mode.

The US automobile safety regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), said that the recall affects the 2007-10 Saturn Aura as well as the 2008-10 Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6, sold in the US, Canada and Mexico.

All the vehicles have 4-speed automatic transmissions.

The Detroit-based carmaker, whose US vehicle sales in August were up by 10 per cent compared to the same period last year, said that the locking tabs on a shift cable could break, allowing the transmission to remain in gear or in neutral when the driver believes it is in Park mode.

This could allow the vehicle to roll. GM said it was aware of four crashes but no injuries arising out of this defect.

The NHTSA said that it launched an investigation in May 2011 on the Saturn Aura after customers complained that the 4-speed automatic transmission car was put in Park mode, but still rolled away.