DETROIT — Detroit's Big 3 automakers reported a smooth transition into 2000 early Saturday with little or no apparent problems from the Y2K computer bug.
General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, reported that its Asian, European and American operations made it through to the new millennium without any apparent significant disruptions.
"Everything has been going better than expected," said John Ahearne, a GM spokesman. "It's looking pretty good, we've had no problems come up."
Ahearne said the automaker has moved from preliminary facility checks to monitoring its information technology infrastructures in Asia and Europe. It will then start testing its software applications before the end of the weekend.
DaimlerChrysler also reported no problems.
"So far all the reports are very positive and we remain cautiously optimistic," said Lori McTavish, a spokeswoman for the world's No. 5 automaker.
At Ford Motor Co., the world's No. 2 automaker, the company played a message that said, "Everything is OK at Ford on Y2K."
Meantime, Michigan's major utilities also said they had made it through the year-end switch without computer problems.
"All of our systems are operating well," said Lorie Kessler, a spokeswoman for Detroit Edison, a unit of DTE Energy Co., the state's largest electrical utility, which had nearly 25 percent of its workforce prepared for potential problems.
Detroit Edison, which has 2.1 million customers, said the company spent $87 million over 3 1/2 years preparing its systems for the calendar change.