Manatee County Sheriff’s officials are hoping for a quick response about the latest GM recall.
This week, General Motors announced a recall of Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit vehicles produced from 2014 to 2016 due to steering problems.
Nearly 6,300 of these cars are used as police cars in the United States.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has 110 of them in their fleet.
“We found out about this actually because we were getting a bunch of GM vehicles coming in and they were recalled, so we basically had to back off of that order,” said MCSO spokesperson Dave Bristow. “Then we find out that okay [the recall] affects some of the ones we already have.”
GM said corrosion on a connector causes the problem. If it happens, the cars still have manual steering, but that requires more effort to turn the wheels and increases the risk of a crash.
The company says the problem is compounded by police cars often running 20 hours per day. That kind of constant use allows damaging heat to build up under the hood while idling.
GM says no crashes or injuries have been reported due to the problem.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office reports the same.
For now, the sheriff’s office is keeping the cars on the streets and hoping for the best.
“At this time GM has told us they don’t know what they’re going to do as far as a remedy, so we’re waiting on that,” said Bristow. “As soon as they come up with a solution, then all of the cars will be taken to Cox Chevrolet and they’ll be fixed.”
Dealers will replace the steering gear control unit on recalled cars.