An airbag defect prompts General Motors to halt sales of its new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickup trucks. This issue will lead to another recall for the automaker, Detroit Free Press reports. Additionally, GM also issued two recalls for a separate safety issue. This totals to 71 recalls issued by GM this year, involving a record of roughly 30 million cars worldwide.
GM attributed the Colorado and Canyon airbag defect to “driver air bag connections that were wired incorrectly during the manufacturing process” according to Detroit Free Press. “This condition affects the vehicles’ two-stage air bag system by reversing the deployment sequence and disrupting the deployment timing of the driver airbag stages. This condition will cause the driver airbags to not function as designed,” the company stated.
Meanwhile, the company also issued two new recalls affecting 524,384 cars in the US, Canada and Mexico. The largest recall, which is linked to three crashes and two injuries, involved 290,107 units of the 2010-2015 Cadillac SRX and 2011-2012 Saab 9-4X. These vehicles were recalled due to “improper torquing could possibly result in a loose joint and worn threads that could cause the toe adjuster link to separate” Detroit Free Press reports. GM said the issue was reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on September 17th.
The other recall involved 89,294 units of the 2013-15 Chevrolet Spark minicar in the US. The car was recalled “because corrosion can cause the secondary hood latch striker to stick in the open position. If the primary latch is not engaged, the hood could open unexpectedly.” According to a review by Cars.com, the Spark is the second-least expensive new car sold in the US this year. Roughly 13,000 units will remain at dealerships prior to revision.
GM has been under increased scrutiny due to an ignition switch recall that affected 2.6 million small cars. The defect has been linked to at least 23 deaths according to Reuters. As of August 1st, the compensation fund received 867 claims for compensation for serious injuries or deaths allegedly caused by the faulty switch.
