ABSTRACT
In April of 2009, General Motors issued a defect recall for 1.4 million vehicles produced between 1997 and 2003 that came with their 3.8 liter V6 engine. The reason for the recall was that oil could leak onto exhaust manifolds, catch fire, and, in turn, set other parts in the engine bay, and eventually the entire car, ablaze. Like many recall campaigns, vehicle owners were notified by means of a recall notice letter, which often competes alongside similar-looking junk mail for readers’ attention. While the majority of owners respond to recall notices and have their cars serviced by an authorized repair shop or dealer, there have not been, nor are there currently, any safeguards to prevent dangerous recalls from going unheeded. For this GM recall, there have been at least 250 fires reported since the safety recall was first announced (O’Dell, 2012). While unfortunate, this situation is far too common. Here, I argue that one way in which technical communicators can help assist in creating documents automotive recall letter is by implementing concepts that align with posthuman theory—like that of metis.
