GM recalls nearly 1 million vehicles for defective air bags

WASHINGTON — General Motors it said on Friday it would recall nearly 1 million sport utility vehicles in the US because the driver is airbags the inflator may explode during deployment.

The recall covers 994,763 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet TraverseAND GMC Acadia 2014 thru 2017 model year vehicles with modules manufactured by ARC Automotive Inc. Dealers will replace the driver airbag module.

THE National Road Traffic Safety Administration said a driver in Michigan of a 2017 Chevrolet Traverse Was involved in an accident in which the front driver’s airbag inflator broke while deploying resulting in facial injuries.

An April 25 inspection confirmed that the front driver’s airbag inflator failed in the vehicle.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) called for the recall of 67 million airbag inflators because it believes there is a safety flaw, but auto supplier ARC Automotive Inc has rejected the US regulator’s request, according to documents released Friday.

THE car safety the agency said the inflators pose an unreasonable risk of death or injury.

Even as breakages increase, “ARC has not made a defect determination that would require a recall of this population,” NHTSA said in its inquiry letter to the Tennessee-based company. “Air bag inflators that project metal fragments into the vehicle occupants, rather than properly inflating the attachment air bagcreate an unreasonable risk of death and injury.”

GM it said it was still investigating the issue with assistance from a third-party engineering firm. “GM is taking this expanded field action out of an abundance of caution and with the safety of our customers as our top priority,” the Detroit automaker said.

GM said it is aware of two previous failures of airbag inflators manufactured by ARC 2015 Chevrolet Traverse vehicles and GM conducted two small precedents remember of approximately 3,000 ARC inflators.

All three failure events in Chevrolet Traverse vehicles involved the same inflation variation.

ARC noted in a letter released Friday that no root causes of those breakouts have been identified by ARC or GM. ARC said it was evaluating the scope of GM’s recall.