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General Motors Recall Saga Continues With 6 New Campaigns

We're in the 30th week of the year and General Motors' recall tally approaches the 30 million mark. As if that wasn't enough of a handful, the manufacturer recently announced that it's calling back 717,950 vehicles in 6 separate campaigns.
Chevrolet Camaro 1 photo
Photo: GM
Before we tell you what models are involved in these recalls, let us take a moment and laugh our socks off at the following statement from Jeff Boyer, the vice president of the recently created Global Vehicle Safety division: “These recalls signify how we’ve enhanced our approach to safety. We are bringing greater rigor and discipline to our analysis and decision making. If we identify an issue – large or small – that might affect the safety of our customers, we will act decisively.”

Nice choice of words there, Jeff, but do you know that 22 brand spanking new SUVs from the 2015 model year are being recalled? How is that possible? We suppose that Jeff is a busy guy that has other things to do right now, so let's explain what's wrong with these vehicles. As it happens, the 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban and GMC Yukon/Yukon Denali have been fitted with roof carriers attached with the wrong retaining nuts. That results in holes or tears in the roof rail airbags if they deploy during a crash. Furthermore, 14 of these vehicles have already been delivered to customers.

1,919 Chevrolet Spark city cars from the 2014 and 2015 model years which were imported from South Korea make up the second safety campaign of the lot. The manufacturer informs that these vehicles were assembled with a lower control arm bolt not fastened to specification. Do you imagine how bad things might turn out from this kind of mess-up? Except from the horrible rattling noise from the front suspension, the worst case scenario is the one where the lower control arm separates from the steering knuckle while driving, resulting in complete loss of steering control.

Moving on to the third safety recall, a tad over 57k Chevrolet Impala sedans from the 2014 model year equipped with belt-drive electric power steering are prone to reduced or total failure of power steering assist. The culprit of this defect? A poor electrical ground connection to the Power Steering Control Module. Moreover, paint may have seeped behind the nut on the power steering control module ground stud. GM is aware of one non-fatal crash related to this condition.

You still with us? Good, 'cause now we go into the hundreds of thousands! The next recall covers 120,426 units of the 2011 - 2013 Buick Regal and 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. General Motors says that cars fitted with front turn signals that use two bulbs are prone to fail prematurely. The driver would get a rapidly flashing turn signal arrow in the instrument cluster if both bulbs in one turn signal were burned out. If only one bulb on either side burns out, there would be no signal to the driver. The body control module will be reprogrammed to fix the condition.

The 2014 Chevrolet Caprice, 2014 Chevrolet SS, 2014 - 2015 Chevrolet Silverado LD and HD, 2014 - 2015 GMC Sierra LD and HD, 2013 - 2014 Cadillac ATS, 2014 Cadillac CTS, 2014 Cadillac ELR and the 2013 - 2014 Buick Encore make up the fifth recall operation. 124,008 cars suffer from an incomplete weld on the seat hook bracket assembly. A loss of power to a laser welding machine may have resulted in an incomplete weld on the lower seat track. According to GM, less than 1 percent of welds are expected to require seat track replacement.

Now here comes the big one - 414,333 vehicles coming in the form of the 2011 - 2012 Chevrolet Camaro, 2010 - 2012 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, 2011 - 2012 Buick Regal and LaCrosse, as well as the 2010 - 2012 Cadillac SRX are being recalled. The problem can be found in vehicles equipped with power height adjustable driver or front passenger seats. The bolt that secures the height adjuster actuator may become loose. If the bolt falls out, the seat will move up and down freely because it is no longer attached at the height adjuster. While GM says that "the vehicles are safe to drive," that doesn't fit with the following paragraph: "GM is aware of one crash and three injuries but no fatalities related to this condition."
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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