Business: AMC's Almost Total Recall

For want of a foolproof $20 part, a $3 million expense

The modern automobile engine is continually punished by extremes of heat, cold and vibration. Engineers consider such stresses in their designs, but some times they miscalculate. Just such a mistake appeared to be behind the Environmental Protection Agency's order last week that American Motors Corp. recall 270,000 of its 1976 cars— all the autos it made that year except those for California, which have special pollution gear —plus 40,000 of its 1975 and 1976 Jeeps and mail trucks. The fault lay in a $20 pollution control system part, made for AMC...

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