The recall involves the 2014-2015 Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet SS, and Spark EV; 2014-2017 Chevrolet Corvette, Trax, Caprice PPV, Silverado 1500, Buick Encore, and GMC Sierra 1500; and 2015-2017 Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, Silverado HD, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL, Sierra HD, Cadillac Escalade, as well as Escalade ESV.
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The world’s No. 3 automaker said the sensing and diagnostic module that controls air bag deployment has a software defect that may prevent the deployment of frontal air bags in certain “rare circumstances”. In the affected cars, the sensing and diagnostic module might prevent the deployment of front airbags and seat belt pretensioners when a crash is “preceded by a specific event”, GM says, but it did not expand upon that further.
The auto maker is recalling a total of 4.28 million vehicles, including 3.6 million in the U.S. The company said the recall would not have a material impact on its financial results. Pretensioners tighten up any slack in the seat belt webbing in the event of a crash and work in tandem with the air bags. GM’s number for this recall is 16007.
This is the second major recall GM has faced in two years. GM says dealers already have access to the software update so they should be able to fix the vehicles quickly. In 2014, GM recalled almost 2.6 million vehicles because of an ignition-switch defect that prevented air bags from deploying in some crashes. Oh, goodness, no. The latest airbag recalls aren’t the fault of the parts themselves. No details were provided as to injuries or deaths.
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GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the automaker is still in discussion with NHTSA about the issue. In August, the NHTSA said it was upgrading and expanding a probe of more than eight million air bag inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc. after a driver was killed in Canada when an inflator ruptured in a Hyundai vehicle. The software defect has already been associated with one death and three injuries.
