At least six people have died because of accidents involving faulty ignition switches in General Motors compacts, prompting the big automaker to recall 778,562 of its 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt and 2007 Pontiac G5 compacts.
GM said it knows of at least 22 accidents involving the ignition switches.
The nearly identical Cobalt and G5 were discontinued years ago but still can be found as cheap used vehicles for low-budget shoppers.
The recall is an enormous black eye for GM, just as it regains its footing and is rebuilding its image because the government no longer owns any of its stock and its new CEO is the first woman to head a big automaker.
Heavy key rings, loaded with other keys and keepsakes, can pull the switch mechanism out of the "run" position into "accessory" or "off," GM says, causing the cars to stall and, in some cases, preventing the airbags from deploying.
Stalled engines also shut off power steering and power brakes, making cars with those accessories harder to steer and stop.
GM says the switches may not have met the automaker's specifications when they were installed in the cars.
