General Motors Issued Two Recalls Today

 5/13/2015

General Motors issued two recalls today. One deals with seats that may not be anchored properly and the other is for potentially defective seat belts. This latest bout of recalls includes roughly 525K vehicles, compared to the company’s 2014 record-breaking recall total of 26.95M vehicles.

The first of the vehicles being recalled is the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickup trucks. Some 53,000 of these models worldwide are under the recall notice, 48,000 of which are in the U.S. There are potential problems with the hooks attaching the seats to the frame. As of today, GM hasn’t been notified of any accidents, injuries or fatalities in connection with this recall. Owners can take their vehicles to any GM dealer for a safety inspection. If it’s determined that the hooks are faulty, the dealership will repair them.

Next up is the Chevrolet Malibu recall. This recall covers model years 2011-12 and includes roughly 470K vehicles, about 437K of which are in the U.S. with the other approximately 32,000 located in Canada, Mexico and other countries around the world. There is a steel cable connecting the safety belts to the vehicles that can fatigue and separate. As with the seat recall, dealers are handling the repairs, which means replacing the outboard lap-mounting bracket that will relocate the tensioner slightly forward. Then they will inspect the cable, replacing the lap pretensioner if needed.

GM is aware of 36 claims, though none are accidents or fatalities. There was one minor injury reported in connection with the defective safety belts that involved a taxi driver bumping his head.

These recalls are much easier to swallow for the auto giant. This time last year, GM issued a recall for approximately 1.5M 2009-14 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, and GMC Acadia full-size crossovers as well as 2009-10 Saturn Outlooks due to similar safety belt issues. Roughly 1M of those vehicles were in the U.S.

It’s nice to see proactive movement on the part of an automaker. These defects have the potential to cause serious injuries, even death, if not corrected. That GM is taking this action now instead of waiting is a good sign.

Source:

GM recalls 469,000 Malibus for seat belt cables