General Motors will recall roughly 7 million vehicles worldwide to replace potentially dangerous Takata airbag inflators.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ordered GM to recall and repair certain vehicles with Takata airbag inflators, as they may rupture/explode in the event of an accident, posing a safety risk to occupants. Vehicles that will be affected by this recall range from the 2007 to 2014 model years of the following models:
- Chevy Silverado
- Chevy Silverado HD
- Chevy Avalanche
- Chevy Tahoe
- Chevy Suburban
- GMC Sierra
- GMC Sierra HD
- GMC Yukon
- GMC Yukon XL
- Cadillac Escalade
GM petitioned NHTSA numerous times to avoid the recall, saying that it did not think the Takata inflators in affected vehicles posed a safety threat to its customers. The automaker reiterated this stance this week, saying that it would go through with the safety recall even though it believes it is unnecessary.
“The safety and trust of those who drive our vehicles is at the forefront of everything we do at General Motors,” the automaker said in a statement. “Although we believe a recall of these vehicles is not warranted based on the factual and scientific record, NHTSA has directed that we replace the airbag inflators in the vehicles in question. Based on data generated through independent scientific evaluation conducted over several years, we disagree with NHTSA’s position. However, we will abide by NHTSA’s decision and begin taking the necessary steps.”
A GM Spokesperson told The Detroit Free Press that none of the inflators in affected vehicles had exploded during their tests. NHTSA, for its part, says that its testing “concluded that the GM inflators in question are at risk of the same type of explosion after long-term exposure to high heat and humidity as other recalled Takata inflators.”
The Takata airbag recall is the largest automotive recall in U.S. history and has involved more than 100 million vehicles worldwide. Takata inflators used ammonium nitrate, which can be unstable when exposed to moisture or humidity, causing the airbags to explode in the event of an accident. The Takata inflators involved in this latest recall had a moisture-absorbing chemical in them called desiccant to prevent such explosions, but these later style of inflators will now also have to be repaired.
A total of 27 people have been killed by faulty Takata airbag inflators worldwide, 18 of which were located in the U.S.
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Comments
Awesome, another one!!! Guess i will just wait for the paper work to come and add it to the stack.
This one is going to hurt GM’s pockets. They avoided it for 4 years and this brought the number down significantly. I think the original amounts was 11 millions vehicles. So looks like about 4 million have already been sent to the junkyard.
Actually, manufacturers can pass the cost back to the original supplier (Takata). Takata tried to declare bankruptcy back when this first hit because they knew the financial costs they would endure, but the courts would not allow them to. So eventually, GM will get it all paid for by Takata, just takes time and until then, GM will be out the funds.
They will recover some funds but is not going to be anywhere near the original amount. That never happens, just ask Ford, Toyota and Honda.
Nope. Takata did go bankrupt. Companies, like individuals, go bankrupt when their liabilities far exceed their assets and there is no hope of reasonably paying them back.
Takata’s administrators got about $1.6 billion by selling the company to the Chinese. That pales in comparison to Honda and Toyota’s claims which, totaled nearly $11 billion, and that ignores other automakers.
So GM’s getting, at best, cents on the dollar.
Glad they are finally doing this. How can GM say that they are ok if the numbers speak for themselves across numerous manufacturers. This is what happens when you farm stuff out to other companies. Received information from GM years ago but nothing was ever done about it.
If you read the actual government documents, GM is saying precisely what you said they should have done: they studied and required changes to Takata’s design. GM demanded better propellant wafers, and bigger vents so the propellant burns more completely, and a stronger steel endcap versus aluminum in other makers.
GM says they made the supplier give them a better design than everybody else so that’s why they haven’t exploded in testing.
Was Takata the LOW COST bidder?????
When it comes to airbag suppliers, there are not a lot of choices.
I think this whole Takata recall that’s been going on forever should help explain why.
Guess I will be getting a Re-call Letter from GM for my 2014 Silverado ? A new air bag for Christmas.
you will not this is for previous gen silverados also these recalls take years so do not wait wait by the mailbox
I bought a 2010 Impala brand new. Six weeks later a car hit me from the back causing us to hit the car in front. It cost 11,000.00 dollars to repair. It had a new frame. I’ve wondered why the airbags didn’t deploy. Maybe GM needs to look at other models. I gave the car to my son for his 16year old daughter to drive.
” Ive wondered why the airbags didn’t deploy” then gives it to a family member. brutal.
“I’ve wondered why the airbags didn’t deploy. Maybe GM needs to look at other models.”
That isn’t what the issue is with the Takata airbag thing. It’s about them exploding and injuring people when they do deploy.
In your case, it probably wasn’t a bad enough accident, regardless of the repair costs.
I’m not sure if front airbags are supposed to go off when rear ended. Assuming you were wearing your seatbelt, the airbag would have most likely hurt you more than it would have helped.
Just read another article that says Silverado THROUGH 2014.
HD models(GMT 900) yes if you have a 1500 no
GM can’t do anything right lately
In typical forum posting, we find yet another person who didn’t read anything but the headline before making an ignorant statement.
I agree with Steve. In general, GM is a dumpster fire of lifers trying use massive amounts of capital from pickup truck sales to stay relevant in a world that is leaving it behind.
Question is when will they have the parts to fix this in stock?
long time to make 14 mil. inflators they are still working on all the previous recalled ones plus the ones that need replacement due to crashes get priority.
Good luck getting a replacement. I’ve had a recall letter in my files for years waiting for parts! 2010 Escalade and 2011 DTS.
Huh, This Takata thing happened ten years ago how come GM dragged this obvious recall this much?
This very article you are commenting on explained why that is:
“Takata inflators used ammonium nitrate, which can be unstable when exposed to moisture or humidity, causing the airbags to explode in the event of an accident. The Takata inflators involved in this latest recall had a moisture-absorbing chemical in them called desiccant to prevent such explosions, but these later style of inflators will now also have to be repaired.”
So they had already added a fix for the problem in question, and as this article also states they were tested and:
“none of the inflators in affected vehicles had exploded during their tests.”
So:
“Although we believe a recall of these vehicles is not warranted based on the factual and scientific record, NHTSA has directed that we replace the airbag inflators in the vehicles in question.”
This is the type of thing you often hear from GM engineers.
I’m guessing the Chevy Bolts weren’t catching fire in tests either but now we have 10% cut from our range to prevent it from happening.
Desiccants wear out!