DETROIT
- General Motors today announced two separate recalls
of cars and trucks that total nearly 720,000 vehicles.
The first
is a recall of approximately 570,000 model year 2000 Chevrolet
Silverado pickups and Tahoe/Suburban sport utility vehicles and
GMC Sierra pickups and Yukon/Yukon XL sport utility vehicles.
These vehicles may have a condition in the air bag sensing and
diagnostic modules that could interfere with the timing and sequence
of air bag deployment signals. This could result in the non-deployment
of driver and passenger side air bags during certain frontal collisions.
Only full-size
pickups and SUVs built between February 1999 and February 2000
are affected by this condition. During testing, GM discovered
that some of the sensing and diagnostic modules in these vehicles
might have a combination of sensing components and software calibrations
that could interfere with the sequence of air bag deployment signals.
GM will ask
owners of these vehicles to bring them in to their Chevrolet and
GMC dealers. The sensing and diagnostic modules of the vehicles
will be recalibrated. These repairs will be performed at no cost
to the customers.
The second
recall involves approximately 150,000 model years 2002 and 2003
Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac cars
and trucks built between May and July 2002. These vehicles may
have driver's side air bag inflator modules that could fracture
at a weld during deployment. Approximately 8,000 of these vehicles
have inflator modules that will be replaced. There are no reports
of crashes, injuries, or fatalities related to this condition.
The vehicles
involved are a varying number of 2002-03 Buick LeSabre, Cadillac
DeVille, Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, Oldsmobile Aurora,
and Pontiac Bonneville passenger cars; Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac
Montana, and Oldsmobile Silhouette minivans; Buick Rendezvous,
Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, and Oldsmobile Bravada sport
utility vehicles. Only vehicles built between May and July 2002
have the inflator modules that will be inspected and replaced
if necessary.
GM's suppliers
experienced the condition during routine testing and then launched
an investigation that discovered its cause.
GM has asked
owners of these vehicles to bring them to their Buick, Cadillac,
Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac dealers. The dealers will
inspect the driver's side air bag modules and replace those containing
the suspect inflators with another air bag module assembly. These
repairs will be performed at no cost to the customers.
While there
have been no reports of incidents involving vehicles with the
suspect air bag inflator modules, it is possible that, in the
event of a driver's air bag deployment, pieces of the inflators
could enter the passenger compartment. Additionally, the air bag
cushion would not fully inflate.
General Motors
(NYSE: GM), the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, designs,
builds and markets cars and trucks worldwide, and has been the
global automotive sales leader since 1931. More information on
GM can be found at www.gm.com.