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DETROIT (AP) – General Motors will recall approximately 7 million large pickup trucks and SUVs around the world to replace potentially dangerous Takata airbag inflators.
The announcement came on Monday after the U.S. government told the automaker it had to recall 6 million vehicles in the United States.
GM says he won’t fight the decision, even though he thinks the vehicles are safe. It will cost the company around $ 1.2 billion, or about a third of its bottom line so far this year.
The automaker had asked the agency four times since 2016 to avoid recalls, saying the airbag inflator cartridges were safe on the road and during testing. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rejected the petitions on Monday, saying the inflators were still at risk of exploding.
Owners have complained to NHTSA that the company is putting profits before safety.
The explosion of Takata inflators triggered the largest series of auto recalls in US history, with at least 63 million inflator recalls. The US government says that as of September, more than 11.1 million had not been repaired. Around 100 million inflators have been recalled worldwide.
Takata used volatile ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to fill the air bags in an accident. But the chemical can deteriorate when exposed to heat and humidity, and it can explode with too much pressure, popping a metal cartridge and spitting out shrapnel.
Twenty-seven people have been killed worldwide by exploding inflators, including 18 in the United States
Monday’s NHTSA decision is a major milestone in the conclusion of the Takata saga. That means all Takata ammonium nitrate inflators in the United States will be recalled, NHTSA said. Earlier this year, the agency decided not to recall inflators containing a moisture-absorbing chemical called a desiccant. NHTSA said it will monitor these inflators and take action if there is a problem.
GM will recall full-size pickup trucks and SUVs from model years 2007 through 2014, including the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickups. The Silverado is GM’s best-selling vehicle and the second-best-selling vehicle in the United States. Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe and Avalanche, Cadillac Escalade, GMC Sierra 1500, 2500 and 3500, and GMC Yukon are also covered.
It took more than four years for the agency to reach its decision, which comes near the end of President Donald Trump’s four-year term.
The NHTSA said in a statement that it had analyzed all available data on air bags, including technical and statistical analysis, aging tests and field data.
“Based on this information and the information provided to the public petition registry, NHTSA concluded that the GM inflators in question are at risk for the same type of explosion after long-term exposure to high heat and humidity. that other Takata inflators recalled, ”the agency told me.
The company has 30 days to give NHTSA a proposed timeline to notify vehicle owners and initiate the recall, the statement said.
GM said that although it believes a recall is not warranted based on the factual and scientific records, it will comply with the NHTSA ruling.
Spokesman Dan Flores said Monday that none of the inflators had exploded in the field or during laboratory tests. But he said GM wanted to avoid a protracted fight with the government.
“While we are confident that the inflators in GMT900 vehicles do not pose an unreasonable safety risk, continue to perform as intended in the field, and will continue to perform as intended based on the results of our accelerated aging studies, we will comply with the NHTSA’s decision to maintain the trust of customers and regulators, ”he said in an email.
In a petition to NHTSA in 2019, GM said the inflators were designed to its specifications and were safe, explosion-free, even though nearly 67,000 air bags were deployed in the field. The inflators, he says, have larger vents and steel end caps to make them stronger.
But Takata has declared GM’s front passenger inflators to be faulty under a 2015 agreement with the government.
In its petition, GM said Northrop Grumman tested 4,270 inflators by artificially exposing them to additional moisture and temperature cycling, and that there were no explosions or abnormal deployments.
However, the NHTSA hired airbag chemistry expert Harold Blomquist, who holds 25 airbag patents, to review the data, and he concluded that the GM airbags were similar to other Takata inflators that had blown up.
The test results for GM inflators included abnormally high pressure events “indicative of a potential risk of future rupture,” NHTSA said in documents. “These results show that GM’s inflators have a similar, if not identical, degradation continuum” to other Takata inflators that have exploded, the agency wrote.
Flores said GM has already purchased 1.6 million replacement inflators made by ZF-TRW that do not use ammonium nitrate.
Jason Levine, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, which opposed GM petitions to avoid recalls, said it was a good day for millions of GM owners who had to wait four years for a decision on “if they drive with an unexploded hand grenade in their steering wheel.”
GM shares rose nearly 3% Monday morning to $ 44.21. The company said the recalls will be phased in based on the availability of replacement inflators and will cost $ 400 million this year.
Drivers can check if their vehicle has been recalled by going to https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls and entering their 17-digit vehicle identification number.
Takata’s previous recalls have driven the Japanese company into bankruptcy and brought criminal proceedings against the company. Eventually, it was bought by a Chinese auto parts supplier.
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