General Motors is recalling 7 million pickup trucks and SUVs worldwide following an order from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The NHTSA order comes as the agency recently concluded at least 17 people in the U.S. have died from injuries sustained in accidents involving faulty air bags made by Japanese company Takata.
The massive recall, which includes 5.9 million vehicles in the U.S. alone, will cost GM about $1.2 billion to comply because they’ll have to foot the entire bill themselves — Takata declared bankruptcy in 2017.
The safety issue stems from a drying agent in the air bags’ inflators that can degrade under long-term exposure to heat and high humidity. This can cause the inflator to explode with too much pressure, sending shrapnel from a metal canister in the air bag into passengers and drivers.
The Takata recall began in 2014 and has since turned into the largest auto recall in history.
General Motors has been fighting this expanded recall for nearly four years, saying their previous recall of almost 800,000 vehicles with affected air bags took care of the issue. The latest recall includes vehicles that have a different style of air bag inflator that, according to GM, did not pose a safety risk to customers.
The NHTSA disagreed and issued the order after reviewing all of the petitions data and the agency’s own research.
“NHTSA concluded that the GM inflators in question are at risk of the same type of explosion after long-term exposure to high heat and humidity as other recalled Takata inflators,” the agency said, according to ABC News.
General Motors plans to recall full-size pickup trucks and SUVs from 2007 to 2014. Affected models include:
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500, 2500, and 3500
- Chevrolet Suburban
- Chevrolet Tahoe
- Chevrolet Avalanche
- Cadillac Escalade
- GMC Sierra 1500, 2500, and 3500
- GMC Yukon and Yukon XL
General Motors will notify owners if their vehicles are affected by the recall. Customers can also look up their VIN number on the NHTSA recall website to see if they need to bring their vehicle in for service.
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