General Motors: Pontiac Vibe 'Safe' Despite Toyota's Recall - WSJ.com

Wall Street Journal
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

General Motors Co. said 2009 and 2010 models of its Pontiac Vibe are "safe to drive" despite inclusion of the car in Toyota Motor Co.'s (TM, 7203.TO) recalls of 2.3 million U.S. vehicles.

On Wednesday, the Detroit auto maker said it halted sales of about two dozen Pontiac Vibe cars as part of the recalls. The Vibe is essentially the same car as the Toyota Matrix, one of eight models the Japanese car maker told dealers to stop selling while it investigates possible defects that may cause the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally.

On Friday, GM said it had received several complaints of "alleged sticking accelerator pedals" after it said the Vibe was included in the Toyota recalls. "To the best of our knowledge, the Vibe vehicles were safely brought to a stop. We are investigating each of the claims," the company added.

GM estimated there are 99,000 Vibe owners in the U.S. and Canada.

"Any customer who experiences any accelerator pedal issue should immediately park the vehicle and have it towed to their GM dealer for an inspection," it said.

The Vibe was built at a factory in California that used to be a joint venture between GM and Toyota until GM pulled out last summer. GM escaped major fallout from the recall since it in the final stages of closing down the Pontiac brand. GM is no longer building the Vibe, and no more than 26 remain in dealerships, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.



-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2357; Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com

(Sharon Terlep contributed to this report.)