General Motors Recalls 414 Vehicles Over Potentially-Rupturing Takata Airbags

General Motors is recalling certain 2015 model year vehicles over a potential issue with the airbag that may rupture upon deployment. The defective airbags are supplied by Takata, and the rupture was discovered by Takata itself.

The defect: the affected vehicles have front seat-mounted side impact air bags whose inflator may rupture upon its deployment, resulting in the airbag not inflating properly.

The hazards: the rupture could cause metal fragments to strike the vehicle occupants, potentially resulting in serious injury or death. Additionally, if the air bag does not properly inflate, the driver or passenger is at an increased risk of injury.

There are no reported breaks in any of the affected vehicles on the road, and GM estimates only one percent of them actually have the faulty parts.

Affected vehicles:

Number of vehicles affected: 414 vehicles total, of which 395 are in the United States.

The fix: GM has begun notifying affected owners via overnight mail on October 19^th, 2015. Dealers will replace the side airbag modules on all of the affected vehicles with new components outside of the batch affected by the recall.

Owners should: customers looking to find out if their vehicle is included in this GM recall should visit recalls.gm.com. There, owners will be able to enter their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to see any open recalls as well as customer satisfaction programs. If the vehicle is part of the recall, customers should take it to a General Motors dealer.

Owners can also contact Chevrolet, GMC, or Buick customer service with questions by using the following information.

Contacts:

• Chevrolet Customer Service: 1-800-222-1020
• Cadillac Customer Service: 1-800-462-8782
• Buick Customer Service: 1-800-521-7300
• GMC Customer Service: 1-800-462-8782
• GM Recall Number: 01320
• NHTSA Toll Free: 1-888-327-4236
• NHTSA (TTY): 1-800-424-9153
• NHTSA Website: www.safecar.gov
• NHTSA Recall Number: 15V666000

Notes: according to documents submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration state that one side-airbag inflator failed a cold test at -40 Fahrenheit (-40 Celsius), “releasing high pressure gas and propelling the separated components apart.” Takata informed GM about the failure the next day. GM and Takata say that a cause is not yet known, but they are “conducting an investigation.” GM has instructed dealers to collect the parts they replace in customers’ vehicles for further study.

The faulty airbags in question are supplied by Takata, a Japanese automotive parts supplier whose faulty front airbag inflators have made quite the industry-wide fiasco. Initial estimates pegged that 34 million vehicles in the United States were in need of repair due to Takata’s defective airbags, but more recent figures have brought that number down to 23.4 million bad parts in 19.2 million vehicles. GM is among the automakers with vehicles in need of repair, which include certain units of pickup trucks, along with the Saab 9-2X and Pontiac Vibe.