A class-action lawsuit has been filed against GM Canada alleging the automaker knowingly delivered vehicles equipped with faulty airbag sensing and diagnostic modules.
According to Car Complaints, the lawsuit alleges the airbag sensing and diagnostic modules in certain GM Canada vehicles have software calibration defect that prevents the airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners from working in the event of a crash. Specifically, the suit says the software is calibrated to deploy the airbags and pre-tensioners 45 milliseconds after a crash has begun, but claims the typical crash duration of a front vehicle-to-barrier collision lasts about 80-150 milliseconds.
The plaintiff in the suit purchased a 2005 Chevy Silverado 2500 in April of 2005, which they say contains this faulty software. The plaintiff also says GM Canada knowingly delivered vehicles with this defect and that it maintains they are safe despite receiving customer complaints about the alleged issue.
Four plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New Jersey filed an almost identical lawsuit against GM in August. Like this Canadian suit, the filing alleges affected vehicles do not deploy the airbags in a timely manner in the event of a crash and may fail to deploy altogether in certain instances. That suit also said more than 800 complaints have been filed with the U.S. federal government regarding airbag failures in front-end crashes in GM vehicles, which date back to 1999. The plaintiffs in the American suit are looking for GM to issue a recall for all affected vehicles to repair or replace the SDM, or offer a buyback for all affected vehicles.
The Canadian suit claims a long list of GM vehicles spanning the 1994 to 2014 model years contain this defect, including the 1999-2014 GMC Yukon, 1994-2014 Chevy Tahoe, 1998-2014 Chevy Silverado and 2004-2014 Cadillac SRX, among many others.
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