GM delayed Saturn Ion recall for years, documents show

DETROIT – General Motors waited years to recall nearly 335,000 Saturn Ions for power steering failures despite getting thousands of consumer complaints and more than 30,000 warranty repair claims, according to government documents released Saturday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the government’s auto safety watchdog, didn’t seek a recall of the compact car from the 2004 through 2007 model years even though it opened an investigation more than two years ago and found 12 crashes and two injuries caused by the problem.

NHTSA closed its investigation into the Ion because GM had decided to recall the cars, according to the documents.