In March, General Motors issued a recall for 1.18 million CUVs because the side impact airbag system could fail. This recall involved certain Lambda-based vehicles, but a new NHTSA document suggests GM was initially hesitant to issue a recall for the SUVs and reportedly, hoped to avoid one altogether.
The recall included some 2008-2013 Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia models, as well as 2009-2013 Chevrolet Traverse and 2008-2010 Saturn Outlook models. On March 13, GM suggested covering the vehicles under a customer satisfaction campaign, which aren’t monitored by government regulators and are less costly for manufacturers. The next day, they issued a full recall for the vehicles, just a few hours after telling the NHTSA of their plan.
March wasn’t the first time GM found out about the recall, either. According to NHTSA documents, the company knew about the problem, and that it could potentially prevent the airbags from deploying, since as early as 2008. They also showed GM investigated the matter at least four other times, issued six service bulletins to dealers and even bought back a number of faulty vehicles from customers.
GM said corrosion or loose crimps in the side airbag wiring harness connectors can caused increased resistance, which the airbag system recognizes as a fault, resulting in an illuminated ‘service airbag’ warning light. If left unattended to for a long time, the resistance could reach a level where the airbags and seat-belt pretensioners will not trigger during a crash.
The Automotive News reports GM did not know of any injuries or crashes which can be directly linked to the recalled SUVs. It believed it had corrected the problem with service bulletins, but in 2010, an engineer investigating the problem found 6,800 vehicles had been the subject of at least two warranty claims for airbag repairs. The high number of warranty claims led GM to tell the NHTSA the service bulletins were “not entirely effective in correcting the condition.”
The full NHTSA report is available for download in PDF format here.
Comments
Two years ago I had an accident in which all of my air bags deployed as well as the lights were flashing on the inside. On Star alerted me to the problem and probably saved my life. I was driving a 2008 Buick Enclave CXL. I miss that car to this day but I’m now driving a 2013 Buick Enclave which I really like.
I’m kinda disappointed bout gm being hesitant to recall cars they should have recalled when they first discovered the problem instead of waiting.if they recalled earlier they wouldn’t be in deep crap right now.
If I read this correctly is sounds like the system recognizes a fault, notifies the owner/driver via a warning light – and if the owner never takes the car in for repair the airbag *may* not deploy when it should. If the owner ignores the warning from the system I’d have to put some blame on them for not having the problem taken care of in a timely manner.
I’d be curious if lawsuits cropped up over this how the owner ignoring a warning indicator would factor in.
Not to say such a defect shouldn’t be corrected on GM’s dime – I’m still wondering how they managed to push so many 3800 series II engines out the door only to have the intake manifolds fail – and never have to recall them. Loved my 3800 powered Bonneville, but still pissed about the failed intake and subsequent repair.