By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON General Motors Co said Tuesday it will recall just over 900 older vehicles worldwide with Takata air bag inflators that could rupture after an incident in Brazil.
The recall covers some 2013 Chevrolet Camaro, Sonic, Volt, and TRAX (Canada-only), and Buick Verano vehicles, including 767 in the U.S., 101 in Canada and 46 in other countries.
The largest U.S. automaker said its Brazil unit in March received an allegation that a 2013 Chevrolet Camaro was in a May 2022 crash and that the front-driver airbag inflator ruptured during deployment. GM said an inspection confirmed the front driver airbag inflator ruptured during deployment.
GM said the analysis is still ongoing but said initial
findings indicate the rupture is likely related to a
manufacturing defect.
"GM is taking this field action out of an abundance of caution," the company said, adding it decided to recall on all front-driver airbag modules containing an inflator from the suspect production lot and said it is unaware of any other field reports of similar inflator ruptures.
More than 30 deaths worldwide, including 26 U.S. deaths, and hundreds of injuries in various automakers' vehicles since 2009 are linked to Takata air bag inflators that can explode, unleashing metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks but none in GM vehicles.
In 2020, GM recalled 7 million vehicles from the 2007-2014 model years with Takata inflators.
Over the last decade, 67 million Takata inflators have been recalled in the U.S. and more than 100 million worldwide, in the biggest auto safety callback in history.
Last month, Chrysler-parent Stellantis warned 29,000 owners of 2003 Dodge Ram pickups to immediately stop driving pending repairs after one person was killed when a Takata air-bag inflator exploded.
In November, Stellantis urged owners of 276,000 other older U.S. vehicles to immediately stop driving after three other crash deaths tied to faulty Takata air bag inflators were reported in 2022.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Marguerita Choy)