(Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. recalled 8.45 million morevehicles yesterday and surpassed the record for U.S. safety fixesby an automaker in a calendar year, as Chief Executive Officer MaryBarra steps up efforts to shed the automaker’s reputation forfoot-dragging on defective parts.

The announcement yesterday came less than four hours afterKenneth Feinberg, the lawyer behind the 9/11 victim funds, finishedannouncing terms of a broad plan for GM to compensate victims of anearlier ignition recall of 2.59 million small cars. Those cars’faults, linked to at least 13 deaths, ignited a crisis for theautomaker that’s led to a reorganization of its engineeringdepartment, the ouster of 15 people, testy congressional hearingsand a reexamination of past vehicles for safety problems.

Most of yesterday’s vehicles, or 8.23 million, are older modelsbeing recalled for unintended ignition-key rotation, includingChevrolet Malibus from model years 1997 to 2005 and Cadillac CTScars from model years 2003 to 2014. Consumers have so far continuedbuying GM cars and trucks with little regard for the recalls, andthe company’s stock has remained buoyant on signs that sales areholding up in the crucial U.S. market.

With yesterday’s actions, GM’s U.S. recall tally rose to 25.7million, eclipsing Ford Motor Co.’s single-year record of 23.3million U.S. vehicle recalls in 2001. With 64.6 million cars andtrucks on U.S. roads, according to Experian, GM is calling back theequivalent of 40% of its vehicles. In North America, it’s nowrecalled almost 29 million vehicles.

“What’s more significant is: Is this the last really big one fora while?” David Whiston, an analyst with Morningstar Inc., said ina telephone interview. “The fact that they made this announcementon the last day of the quarter makes me wonder if this is the finalact of house cleaning.”

June End

Barra last month signaled that more safety actions were comingin June and said additional recall-related charges could bematerial. GM said yesterday that it expects to take a charge of asmuch as $1.2 billion for recall-related repairs announced in thesecond quarter. It took a $1.3 billion charge in the first quarterfor recalls.

“We expect our redoubled efforts to be substantially completedby the end of the second quarter,” Barra told analysts during aconference call on June 5.

That may explain why shares, which were temporarily halted, felljust 0.9% to $36.30 at the close in New York. They had traded atmore than the June 27 closing price for most of the day. Among 24analysts tracked by Bloomberg, 17 say to buy the stock and onlythree say sell.

‘Unprecedented’ Volume

The volume of recalls in the first half of this year is stillstartling, said Karl Brauer, a senior analyst with Kelley BlueBook.

“It’s unprecedented,” Brauer said in a telephone interview.“People are now wondering, where’s this going to end, how long isit going to take, how much is it going to cost?”

The 7.55 million vehicles GM recalled in the U.S. yesterdayrepresent almost 12% of GM’s cars on U.S. roads, based onExperian’s figure. The Detroit-based automaker’s June U.S. salesprobably fell 3%, which is in line with the company’s lowerincentives last month, John Krafcik, president of car- buyingwebsite TrueCar Inc., said last week.

The biggest U.S. automaker is stepping up the pace of recalls asit faces multiple investigations for its slowness in calling backthe small cars, including the Chevrolet Cobalt, with ignitionissues linked to at least 13 deaths. Since that action began inFebruary, the company has recalled other cars for similar issues,accounting for about 9 million of the fixes before yesterday.

‘Most Comprehensive’

“We undertook what I believe is the most comprehensive safetyreview in the history of our company because nothing is moreimportant than the safety of our customers,” Barra said in astatement yesterday. “Our customers deserve more than we deliveredin these vehicles. That has hardened my resolve to set a newindustry standard for vehicle safety, quality and excellence.”

Some of yesterday’s recalled ignitions were worked on by RayDeGiorgio, the former GM engineer responsible for the faultyignition switch at the heart of GM’s crisis, Alan Adler, a companyspokesman, said in a telephone interview. He wouldn’t identifywhich of the new recalled vehicles involved DeGiorgio, who was oneof 15 people ousted by the company after an internal investigationreleased last month found a lack of urgency in the engineering andlegal departments led to GM taking more than a decade for theflawed Cobalts and other vehicles to be recalled.

Cobalt Review

Those vehicles have a defective ignition switch that could bejarred into the “accessory” position, disabling power steering andpreventing air bags from deploying.

“This all comes from our review that began after the Cobalt,”Adler said. “We looked at every ignition switch across the company.Some of them he was involved with and some of them he wasn’t.”

One of the issues found by GM’s internal investigation into thefaulty ignition switches was that company engineers didn’t connectthe dots on the danger created by vehicles stalling while inmotion. Because they didn’t realize it cut power to the air bags,they didn’t consider it a safety problem.

‘Worst Thing’

GM’s decision today to recall millions more cars for“ignition-key rotation,” may mean the automaker has changed itsmind on whether stalling by itself is a safety defect, saidClarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for AutoSafety.

The huge numbers in yesterday’s announcement, on top of the morethan 20 million recalled already in 2014, may cause consumers towonder whether the rest of the vehicle line is any good, Ditlowsaid.

“For GM to still be doing ignition-key recalls just calls intodoubt their competence,” Ditlow said. “It’s about the worst thingthat could happen.”

GM shares and sales have held up so far despite the publicitysurrounding the recalls. GM in May had its best month of U.S. autosales since August 2008, rising 13% to 284,694 vehicles. In J.D.Power & Associates’ closely watched new-car quality survey, GMhad more best-in-category models than any other automaker.

Vehicle Details

Yesterday’s ignition recalls also cover the 1998 to 2002Oldsmobile Intrigue, 1999 to 2004 Oldsmobile Alero, 1999 to 2005Pontiac Grand Am, 2000 to 2005 Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo,2004 to 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix, and 2004 to 2006 Cadillac SRX.

In addition, GM yesterday also recalled 181,984 SUVs in the U.S.to fix a possible electrical short in the driver’s door, whichcould disable locks and window switches and overheat, according toa company statement. The recall covers the 2005-07 Buick Rainier,Chevy Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender and Saab 9-7x, as wellas the 2006 Trailblazer EXT and Envoy XL.

The recall substitutes a new repair as “do-over” for one GMrolled out earlier for the same models in 21 cold-weather states,Adler said in an e-mail.

In that 2012 action, GM advised vehicle owners to park outsideuntil their repairs were complete, according to a National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration summary.

“The remedy now is a new door module vs. a repair,” Adler said.“Vehicles that have not yet been repaired will now get a new doormodule instead of the original repair.”

Smaller Recalls

Three smaller recalls were also announced for newer models. The2007-2011 Chevy Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD with an auxiliarybattery were recalled because an electrical overload could lead tomelting, smoke or fire and damage wires. That action covers 12,008vehicles in North America and 9,371 in the U.S.

GM is recalling 20,134 vehicles to fix insulation on the engineblock: the 2011-14 Chevy Cruze, 2012-2014 Chevy Sonic, the 2013-14Chevy Trax, Buick Encore and Buick Verano. And it’s recalling 117cars in North America to tighten a “superhold” joint fastener,including certain versions of the 2014 Chevy Camaro, Chevy Impala,Buick Regal and Cadillac XTS.

Among the vehicles recalled yesterday, GM said it’s aware ofseven crashes, eight injuries and three fatalities. The fatalcrashes occurred in older full-size sedans being recalled for theignition flaw. It isn’t clear whether the faulty ignition causedthose crashes, GM said.

--With assistance from Keith Naughton, Jeff Green and JohnIrwin in Southfield, Michigan.

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