GM can't afford any more recall drama The elephant in the room is that GM's North America unit issued 84 separate recalls covering a whopping 30,433,365 vehicles last year.These occurred after CEO Mary Barra ordered a thorough review of safety issues following allegations that GM had delayed recalling a defective ignition switch for years. Despite predictions that the recall scandals would hammer GM's U.S. sales, the company did pretty well last year. GM's U.S. sales rose 4.8% in 2014, and profits in GM's North America business unit would have been very strong if not for the costs of the recalls. But those costs added up to almost $3 billion, putting a significant dent in GM's 2014 bottom line. And there could be more to come: Ongoing state and federal investigations are likely to produce criminal charges, and it's likely that GM will have to fork over a substantial amount of cash to settle those charges. How substantial? Toyota paid $1.2 billion to settle similar claims last year.