GM Issues Yet Another Vehicle Recall Due to Airbag Deployment Problems

While General Motors faces personal injury lawsuits and a potential class action lawsuit for a delayed vehicle recall that, over several years, resulted in at least 13 deaths, the company has issued another vehicle recall for 1.5 million cars due to problems with airbag deployment.

The latest recall will cost GM around $300 million to pay for repairs to the cars under vehicle recall.

The GM vehicle recall covers 1.2 million 2008-2013 model Buick Enclaves and GMC Acadia SUVs, as well as 2009-2013 Chevrolet Traverse and the 2008-2010 Saturn Outlook.

The vehicles have a warning light that reads “Service Air Bag.” Reportedly, if a customer ignores the light, it can cause the airbag to fail to deploy, and other safety features can fail in a side impact collision, which can lead to severe injuries or death.

GM has also issued a vehicle recall for 303,000 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans from the 2009-14 model years and 63,900 Cadillac XTS sedans from the 2013 and 2014 model years.

“Today’s announcement underscores the focus we’re putting on the safety and peace of mind of our customers. We are conducting an intense review of our internal processes and will have more developments to announce as we move forward,” said Mary Barra, GM’s chief executive.

“I asked our team to redouble our efforts on our pending product reviews, bring them forward and resolve them quickly,” Barra said.

“Something went wrong with our process in this instance, and terrible things happened,” she added to employees in a video message posted online. The admission is unprecedented for automobile manufacturers.

GM has issued vehicle recalls for 3.1 million vehicles in the last month alone.

Proposed Class Action and Personal Injury Litigation Against GM

On Friday, March 14th, General Motors (GM) was hit with two personal injury/wrongful death lawsuits related to their recent major vehicle recall.

The lawsuits are part of a proposed class action against the vehicle manufacturer for serious delays in the vehicle recall. Last month, when the first part of the ignition switch vehicle recall was issued, GM acknowledged that it knew about at least 13 deaths related to crashes. When the recall was recently expanded to 1.4 million vehicles, GM added that 31 people had been injured due to crashes directly caused by the ignition problem. Despite knowing about the ignition switch problem, the automobile manufacturer did not issue a vehicle recall for its 2005 model cars until this year – 2014.

The proposed personal injury class action was filed in a federal court in Texas, and claims that GM knew about the problem since 2004. This created “unreasonably dangerous” conditions for drivers.

“GM’s mishandling of the ignition switch defect….has adversely affected the company’s reputation as a manufacturer of safe, reliable vehicles with high resale value,” the lawsuit said.

The Strom Law Firm Can Help with Defective Products and Vehicle Recall Cases

If you have experienced a problem with a defective product in your automobile, especially if a defective part has led to an auto accident or personal injury, and a proper vehicle recall notice has not been issued, you may be entitled to compensation. The attorneys at the Strom Law Firm can help. We can help you with complicated auto insurance claims, and make sure you receive the compensation you deserve to help you with lost income and medical bills. Our attorneys are licensed to practice in South Carolina, Georgia, and New York. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case, so contact us today at (803) 252-4800.