Parking brake fire risk: General Motors recalls 221,558 Impalas and Cadillacs in US, Canada

US car maker General Motors is going to recall hundreds of thousands of its vehicles after a fire incident was reported due to a glitch in the parking brake.

The company has announced recall of 221,558 cars that covers 205,309 vehicles in the United States and the remaining 16,249 in Canada and elsewhere, said General Motors spokesman Alan Adler.

A letter dated September 19 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that the defect occurred with General Motor’s 2013-2015 Cadillac XTS and the 2014-2015 Chevrolet Impala models.

GM decided to recall the vehicles because of a parking brake defect that can probably cause the brake pads to stay partly engaged, leading to “excessive brake heat that may cause fire,” according to the documents posted on the website of the top US auto safety regulator on Saturday.

Fortunately, the company has not received complaints regarding reported incidences of fatalities or injuries as a result of the parking brake defect.

According to the company insiders, the problem persists in the brake’s indicator light that sometimes don’t illuminate while the brake is not wholly retracted.

“In this condition if the vehicle is operated for an extended period of time then its rear brakes can potentially generate significant heat, smoke and sparks, leading to fire.” the NHTSA said in the letter.

This year, the General Motors has recalled around 15 million vehicles worldwide over the defects in the switches.

GM’s Impala has faced numerous recalls and investigations this year, leading to the total number of recalls worldwide in 2014 alone at around 30 million vehicles.

The car model was recalled in February over a transmission defect that allowed a parked vehicle to roll away. Then in June, Impalas were recalled for ignition problems. Again in July, the company recalled more Impalas for a possible loss of power steering.