Chevy’s Recalling 112,000 Cruzes To Keep Them From Rolling Over And Bursting Into Flames

Rolling a vehicle over is never a good thing. Having it burst into flames afterwards is even worse. Which is why General Motors has issued this latest recall.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, certain examples of the Chevy Cruze could leak fuel and potentially start a fire – but only after a crash that results in a rollover.

The problem has been isolated to 2016-18 models, specifically in LS trim. Even among those, the problem is only thought to affect vehicles with gasoline engines, and tire-inflator kits instead of spare tires. And it’s been further isolated to vehicles manufactured between November 9, 2015, and May 1, 2018 (earlier this month).

So owners of vehicles made before or in other trims needn’t worry. But for those affected, the American automaker figures that installing a lock-ring on the fuel tank should help keep the fuel-tank vapor sensor from being damaged in a rear-impact collision, and prevent fuel from leaking out and potentially causing a fire.

Fortunately no such incidents are known to have occurred out on the road. The problem was discovered during internal testing on a pre-production 2019 model, prompting GM’s Potential Investigation Review board to launch an inquiry and subsequently recommend a recall to federal authorities.

The parts aren’t available yet for the recall to be carried out. But owners of those affected vehicles – of which 111,966 are estimated to be in the United States – can expect to hear from the manufacturer once it’s ready to begin calling those vehicles in.

By our count, GM sold some 450,000 Chevy Cruzes in the US during the time period in question. So the recall affects only about a quarter of those sold, bearing in mind that production dates and sales periods don’t match up exactly.