It’s official: both vehicles in our household have now been recalled.

A few weeks ago, I received a notice in the mail regarding my 2005 Saturn Ion. While the problem the recall is for (power steering) hasn’t appeared yet, there’s still a problem that General Motors refuses to fix: the ignition/passlock system.

It’s officially getting cold again in Seattle: I experienced the problem for the first time in months yesterday morning. When temperatures drop below a certain degree, Saturn ION ignition systems lock up, preventing the car from starting for exactly 10 minutes. Various tricks have been suggested by the thousands of owners nationwide experiencing this problem – wrapping a scarf around the steering shaft, heating the key with a lighter, and even snipping wires to disengage the passlock system (which seems to do the trick).

That last idea? A YouTube video was made in January 2009 showing how to do it. The number of views? Over 20,000 with 283 comments.

My husband’s car, a Pontiac Vibe, was just included in Friday’s joint recall with General Motors and Toyota. This problem, stalled engines, is a FAR bigger problem than my car not starting for 10 minutes. But yet Toyota won’t send out notices until next month with recall schedules sent in November. Well damn. I hope his car doesn’t stall in the next few months while driving at 60 MPH like some complaints have stated.

So officially, BOTH of our vehicles have now been recalled. What are the odds of that? Apparently, pretty great these days. It’s disheartening to spend so much money a month on insurance and car payments for cars that have known problems that the manufacturers drag their feet on fixing.

Toyota has recalled 11 MILLION cars in the past 12 months. And they keep spending millions trying to convince us that they take “safety very seriously” and are “committed to our customers.” Where was this safety concern when you were building the cars? Based on the magnitude and depth of recall, Toyota seems to have cut corners for years when it comes to manufacturing. It’s difficult to keep track of all of the recalls. Chances are, if you own a Toyota, your car’s been recalled. But who knows for what.

And this commitment to customers? Where was that when the hundreds of claims came poring for these now-recalled issues? Toyota denied claims, blaming the issue on the customer or other factors out of their control. Toyota has known since 2005 about the unintended acceleration issue and withheld key evidence during litigation over vehicle safety. That’s not a commitment to customers – that’s a commitment to money, greed, and your bottom line.