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General Motors recalls nearly 1.5 million cars over fire risk
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The 1998-1999 Chevrolet Lumina with the 3.8-liter V6 is among
six GM midsize cars recalled for a fire risk.
Nearly 1.5 million GM midsize cars from the 1997-2003 model years have a defect that allows oil to drip onto the exhaust manifold and flame up, potentially leading to an engine fire, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
The automaker is recalling versions of the 1997-2003 Buick Regal and Pontiac Grand Prix, the 1998-1999 Chevrolet Lumina and Oldsmobile Intrigue, the 1998-2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and the 2000-2003 Chevrolet Impala equipped with the naturally-aspirated (without a supercharger) 3.8-liter V6.
Dealers will install new spark plug retainers that are less likely to turn a small flame into a more significant fire, NHTSA said. The work will be performed free of charge on all 1,497,516 vehicles potentially affected by the problem.
The process NHTSA describes that would lead to a fire seems like something out of a Rube Goldberg work: the exhaust manifold must be hot, you must be slamming on the brakes, the dripping oil make drip its way around the manifold's heat shield, and the resulting small flame must spread to the spark plugs.
Nonetheless, if you're the owner of an affected vehicle, make sure to get your car repaired. You should receive notifications and instructions from GM next month.
Though the six affected vehicles are from four different brands, all are based on the GM "W-Body" architecture and use the same 3.8-liter V6 engine. Such "platform sharing" keeps costs down when an automaker is developing a car, but when it builds millions of cars using the same design, it's in trouble if a problem emerges with that design a decade later.
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