Air bags are back in the news as General Motors is recalling 410,019 pickups in the United States.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2015-2016 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500, 2500 and 3500 trucks have roof-rail air bags with inflator end caps that may detach from the inflator or have an inflator sidewall that may rupture. If this happens, the air bags could deploy without warning.
Unfortunately, this isn’t theoretical as there were three incidents in June alone. All of them happened in 2015 Silverado pickups and saw their “steel inflator-body sidewall split open, suddenly releasing the gas stored inside the chamber.” Thankfully, all three incidents occurred when the trucks were unoccupied and not in use.
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While that’s good news, air bags that can deploy without warning are never a good thing – especially if they go off when someone is driving. That being said, the NHTSA noted the issue is caused by corrosion inside the inflator vessel, which is a result of “moisture introduced into the vessel during the supplier’s manufacturing process and aggravated by thermal cycling in high-temperature climate regions.”
GM is taking quick action as they decided to conduct a safety recall less than two weeks after being made aware of the first incident. As part of the effort, dealers will replace the left and right roof-rail air bags and owners will be mailed a warning about the issue next month. A second notice will then be sent out when the fix is available.
