GM is recalling about 375,000 2007 and 2008 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups to replace the faulty Takata airbags in the trucks.
General Motors and Subaru followed the lead of five other automakers late last week when the pair announced they would be adding vehicles to their existing list of recalled cars equipped with Takata airbags.
The Japanese airbag supplier recently complied with demands from federal safety officials to declare 33.8 million driver- and passenger-side airbags defective in the U.S. The total number globally exceeds 50 million.
The airbags, which have been tied to six deaths and more than 100 injuries, have inflators that may cause an explosion sending metal shrapnel into the cabin of the vehicle.
Since the announcement, automakers have been trying to determine which of their vehicles are impacted and then including them in the recalls. The total number of vehicles involved in the recall is unchanged, but the specific vehicles are now being identified by the automakers.
(Automakers adding vehicles to airbag recall list. For more, Click Here.)
Here are additions from GM and Subaru:
- About 375,000 Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra HD trucks from the 2007 and 2008 model years to replace passenger airbags, mainly across North America. About 330,000 of the trucks were sold in the U.S. Dealers will replace the inflators at no cost to customers. GM says it knows of no crashes or injuries due to performance of the air bags in these vehicles.
- About 60,000 vehicles added to a previous recall along the Gulf Coast for passenger air bag inflators including the 2004-2005 Impreza and the 2005 Saab 9-2X, which was manufactured by Subaru.
Prior to this, Honda, Fiat Chrysler, BMW, Ford and Mitsubishi released their models added to the recall. In all, 11 automakers have vehicles included in the expanded Takata recall. In addition to the aforementioned makers, Daimler Trucks, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota are also involved in the recall, although Nissan said it would not add more U.S. vehicles in the latest recall expansion.
(Click Here for details Takata issuing the largest recall in U.S. history.)
While the automakers continue to determine what vehicles need to be recalled, they’re still unsure of two things: why the airbags explode and how they’ll replace them in a timely manner.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently asserted a legal position demanding the makers develop a plan for accelerating the rate of repair. Takata has doubled its production capability and enlisted competitors to make the kits, but before the number of recalls was expanded, it was expected to take more than two years to complete the task.
(To see more about NHTSA applying pressure to speed up airbag recall, Click Here.)
The filing by NHTSA allows Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to review the plan and accept it or implement his own. He is expected to develop his own plan, but use the automakers’ effort as a source for his mandate.