GM Recalls 500,000 Vehicles Including Cadillac, Saab and Chevrolet Spark

General Motors has ordered the recall of more than 500,000 vehicles globally over safety concerns, pushing its total for the year to almost 30 million vehicles – more than three times the number of vehicles it sold in 2013.

The latest recall, numbering 524,384 vehicles, involves Cadillac and Saab SUVs and Chevrolet Spark small cars.

The recall is due to faulty latches that could allow a hood without warning and loose joints that have been linked to three crashes and two injuries, reports said.

Earlier in the week, GM instructed American dealers to stop selling two new truck models – the 2015 Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-sized pickup trucks – that went on sale two weeks ago to fix a potential defective air bag.

Shares in America's leading automaker have dropped 17% so far this year following a spate of recalls, primarily surrounding defective ignition switches linked to fatal crashes.

In September, Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer overseeing a fund set up to pay victims of GM cars, linked 19 deaths to the defective ignition switches in GM cars.

That number was more than the 13 deaths GM had said were tied to the problem.

GM chief executive Mary Barra told CNBC earlier in September that her firm was well on its way to replacing the faulty ignition switches that triggered the recall of nearly 2.6 million defective cars this year.

Feinberg said in June that the families of those who died will probably be awarded at least $1m (£626,000/€800,000) as compensation.

Earlier in the year, US regulators imposed a $35m fine on the Detroit automaker for the delayed recall of the 2.6 million vehicles.