General Motors is recalling more than a million Chevrolet Cobalts, Pontiac G5s, Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada and Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico. They have power-steering motors that can fail in what GM says are rare cases. Note that the recall comes after regulators got complaints and opened an investigation. Some 1,100 hundred GM owners told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about power-steering failure, reports the Associated Press. Would be interesting to see how long GM itself has been getting complaints.

The GM problems are less serious than the Toyota accelerator disaster. Even if the power-steering motor dies you can still steer the cars. There are reports of 14 crashes and one injury in the complaints that NHTSA got, says AP. Even so, the GM recalls will remove the focus from Toyota, at least for now. But Toyota has a long, long way to go to repair its reputation.

From the AP story:

The recall affects 2005 to 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5s, 2005 and 2006 Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada and 2005 and 2006 Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico.