GM filed a request with NHTSA in January to avoid recalling some of its SUVs and pickups equipped with Takata airbags, the third time the Detroit automaker has sought relief, according to a Feb. 6 GM filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The petition concerns the so-called GMT900 vehicles, which include the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups; the Chevy Tahoe, Suburban, and Avalanche; the GMC Yukon; and the Cadillac Escalade.
In the disclosure GM said it hasn’t set aside money to perform the recalls, but it estimates they would cost $1 billion if carried out. In its earlier petitions to be exempted from the recall, GM argued that the design of its Takata airbags differed from that of others in the recall, and its own testing and field data suggests there’s no defect in these vehicles.
And people can’t understand why I would never own a GM?
I really don’t think that any car (or motorcycle, boat, truck, whatever) company gives a rat’s axx about their customers.
They simply want the product sold, don’t come back unless you want another, and to maintain a perception of caring. They’e all lied, stonewalled, and covered up crap for years.
Ford issued a do-not-drive order for about 3,000 2006 Ford Ranger pickups in January, then expanded the order to include an additional 33,000 vehicles Feb. 12. Mazda issued an identical order for its B-Series pickups, which were made at the same plant as the Rangers.
A group of creditors fighting out Takata’s corporate dissolution in bankruptcy court struck a preliminary deal that could become final as soon as Feb. 15. According to news reports, a group of automakers and Key Safety Systems, the company that has bought most of Takata’s assets, agreed to create a trust to compensate consumers or their families for injuries and fatalities.
GM is asking the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to be able to avoid recalling some of its vehicles.
More than 3 million additional vehicles were added to the recalls as part of NHTSA’s effort to space out the repairs in different regions of the country, according to the risk for drivers and passengers.
Probably true. I guess before anybody with insufficient information draws conclusions, the intelligent thing to do would be to let it go through the proper channels.
I have had zero problems getting any recalls done on GM vehicles, including a recent valve cover gasket replacement on a 2001 Impala LS 3800! It cost me nothing and I got a car wash and vacuuming! They mailed cards and phoned to remind and followed up. I am the second owner of this 300,000 mile+ wonderful car.
Takata, an Asia based company makes defective airbags that are considered dangerous and are installed in several vehicle brands and the conclusion drawn is that GM sucks? Ha, ha, good one! CSA
You seem to be having some trouble following the thread. It isn’t that GM unknowingly installed the defective parts on their cars that indicates that they suck. It’s that they’re doing everything in their power to avoid replacing them with parts that won’t kill people.
Dodge replaced the Takata airbags in my Ram without a whimper, and the dealer also washed the truck. Obviously, GM has more skin in this game due to the much larger number of affected vehicles, but the also have much greater resources. QED, they suck.
You are wrong! I had no problem following it. I see no conclusion that GM’s claim was wrong.
Nearly 70,000 airbag deployments and NO inflator explosions! Northrop Grumman has tested thousands of the inflators, exposing them to artificial humidity and temperature cycling, and recorded no explosions.
As I said, probably much ado about nothing. Those airbags are plenty safe enough for me!
I think what’s going on here is that people with an ax to grind against GM are off to the races before the starting gun goes off.
Does anyone remember when GMs solution to broken motor mounts was a short length of chain to limit engine movement rather that putting in a mount that actually worked?
Oh, we who were in auto shop at the time can remember the Chevrolet cable cure for the engine mounts. Pontiac discovered the problem and offered the redesigned mount solution to Chevy but were told to mind their own business.
That Consumer Reports story is from February 2018.
The NHTSA had agreed with GM’s petition to postpone action at that time based on research conducted by GM. So it seems that there are two guilty parties, GM and NHTSA. Why would NAFTA have any interest in the safety of these vehicles? The government doesn’t own and operate any of these trucks, or do they?
This was the NHTSA’s view on the petition in Feb. 2018:
“The originally planned OATK study is now complete, and—despite three decades of
extreme exposure to humidity- and temperature-related propellant degradation—all of the
GMT900 Inflators in the study safely deployed without any ruptures. The recalled non-GMT900
Takata inflators in the comparison group, by contrast, experienced ruptures and abnormal
deployments, at rates and times consistent with ballistic test data generated by the same type of
inflators recovered from the field. These results demonstrate that the GMT900 Inflators, which
have not ruptured in the field or in ballistic testing, will continue to operate safely for decades,
even in the highest temperature and humidity regions. Based on the record presented, GM
respectfully requests that NHTSA grant the Petitions. In the alternative, if NHTSA believes that
more study is required, GM requests that NHTSA defer its decision on all three petitions until
March 31, 2018, which will permit GM and OATK to complete additional study and analysis, as
more fully discussed below.”
The document goes on to state that GM had more stringent validation requirements for airbag inflators than those previously in production by Takata.
to grind against GM are off to the races 
before the starting gun 
goes off. 