GM will notify Silverado and Sierra owners by mail no later than August 16.
A new GM recall campaign began this week, covering 410,019 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 and HD trucks for potentially faulty roof-rail airbag inflators. According to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “General Motors has decided that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in certain 2015 – 2016 model year Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra vehicles. In these vehicles, the roof-rail airbag (“RRAB”) inflators, which are located on the left- and right-side roof rails above the headliner, may contain a manufacturing defect that may result in inflator end cap separation or inflator sidewall split.”
If that happens, the automaker goes on, compressed gas could escape from the inflator. From there, it’s propelled into the vehicle — potentially along with some debris — that could injure the trucks’ occupants. GM narrowed the cause to corrosion within the inflator vessel during the manufacturing process. Thermal cycling in high-temperature regions can exacerbate the issue.
At the time these trucks were built, the airbag supplier was Joyson Safety Systems (formerly known as Key Safety Systems), the entity that acquired the now-defunct Takata Corporation.
GM recall: Affected trucks by the numbers
According to the report, the affected models in this GM recall include:
- 2015 – 2016 Chevy Silverado 1500 built between March 28, 2015 and July 10, 2016 (222,890 trucks)
- 2015 – 2016 Chevy Silverado 2500/3500 built between March 30, 2015 and July 5, 2016 (63,545 trucks)
- 2015 – 2016 GMC Sierra 1500 built between March 28, 2015 and January 1, 2016 (95,284 trucks)
- 2015 – 2016 GMC Sierra 2500/3500 built between March 30, 2015 and May 12, 2016 (28,300 trucks)
GM notified dealers on July 1. Once the automaker completes informing owners of the recall, it will have dealers replace both the left- and right-side roof-rail airbag modules free of charge. A company spokesperson said no accidents or injuries were caused by faulty roof-rail inflators.
