Total recall: GM safety warnings outpace sales

With General Motors’ recall of 8.23 million vehicles on Monday, the total number of cars recalled by the auto giant this year has risen to an astounding 29 million.

To put that number in perspective, GM last year sold 2.8 million vehicles in the U.S. and 9.7 million globally. GM has recalled more cars this year than the entire U.S. industry did in 2013, Reuters reported.

And for an even more eye-opening statistic, the blog the Consumerist, which is part of Consumer Reports, reported Monday that GM sales records indicate it had recalled more cars in the first six months of 2014 that it sold in the U.S. from 2007 to 2013.

Despite those numbers and the record number of safety recalls, the company’s sales continued to rise. The company said Tuesday that its U.S. sales were up by 1 percent in June. GM earlier this year recalled nearly 2.6 million Cobalts, Ions and other small cars with defective switches that it linked to 54 crashes and at least 13 deaths.

Earlier this month, it recalled more than 500,000 Chevrolet Camaro sports cars and another 3.4 million midsize and full-size sedans, including Chevrolet Impalas and Cadillac DeVilles.

On Monday, GM provided the details of a compensation fund that was set up to provide at least $1 million to victims of crashes that were tied to the defective switches in older compact cars, including the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion.

Kenneth Feinberg, who was hired by GM to manage the victims’ fund and also administered the victim’s compensation fund for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Boston Marathon bombings, said there would not be a cap on how much money the company would spend in compensating those who were affected.

The company has linked at least 13 deaths to the faulty ignition switches.

With wire services.