N222366190 – Driver’s Air Bag Inflator May Explode – 2015 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse & GMC Acadia

April 14, 2022 NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 22V246000

Driver’s Air Bag Inflator May Explode

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.

 

NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V246

Manufacturer General Motors, LLC

Components AIR BAGS

Potential Number of Units Affected 2,687

 

Summary

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2015 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia vehicles. The driver’s air bag inflator may explode during deployment, due to a manufacturing defect.

 

Remedy

Dealers will replace the driver’s air bag module, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed May 30, 2022. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300; Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM’s number for this recall is N222366190.

 

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov.

 

Check if your Vehicle has a Recall

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Safety Recall N222366190
Driver Front Airbag Inflator May Rupture

 

These questions and answers are being provided to help GM dealers respond to inquiries from involved vehicle owners about the Safety recall identified above.

Q1) Which vehicles are involved?

Certain 2015 model year Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, and GMC Acadia vehicles.

 

Q2)What is the issue or condition?

In these vehicles, the front-driver airbag inflator may contain a supplier manufacturing defect that may result in inflator rupture during deployment.

 

Q3) What symptoms may be experienced?  What warning signs may be associated with the issue or condition described?

None

 

Q4) What is the remedy/repair?

Dealers will replace the front-driver airbag module. 

Dealer Notification Instructions.   Because this safety recall involves equipment/parts also sold over-the-counter, dealers will be REQUIRED to search their stock and sales records for over-the-counter sales and provide the recall notice to the purchaser once the bulletin is released.

 

Q5) What is the safety risk?  Is the vehicle safe to drive?

An inflator rupture may cause metal fragments to pass through the airbag and into the vehicle interior, which may result in injury or death to vehicle occupants.

 

Q6) Does the customer have to pay for this remedy/repair?

No, this repair will be done at no cost to the customer.

 

Q7) Is the remedy/repair available now?

No, when a remedy is available and/or sufficient quantity of parts are available, the recall bulletin will be released, and dealers can begin repairing vehicles.

 

Q8) What should customers do until recall repairs can be completed?  Are there any special instructions?

If special instructions are provided, they will be included in the notification letters to customers. 

 

Q9) How can customers check to see if their vehicle is involved in this field action?

Customers who own a vehicle involved in the field action will be notified by mail by General Motors, but they may also check their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) for field actions in GM Owner Center at https://my.gm.com/recalls or via NHTSA’s website at https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/.

 

Q10) If customers are concerned, can they get a rental car or courtesy transportation?

Courtesy transportation is available for customers whose vehicles are involved in this recall and are within the warranty coverage period for the warranty which is associated with this recall.  Please refer to Warranty Administration Bulletin #17-NA-073:  Field Action Courtesy Transportation Policy for further information.

 

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3 Affected Products

Vehicles

 

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5 Associated Documents

Defect Notice 573 Report

RCLRPT-22V246-2926.PDF 236.977KB

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Recall Acknowledgement

RCAK-22V246-4347.pdf 645.058KB

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Manufacturer Notices(to Dealers,etc) – Dealer Message re Upcoming Safety Recall N222366190 Driver Front Airbag Inflator May Rupture

RCMN-22V246-9570.pdf 63.637KB

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Miscellaneous Document – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Safety Recall N222366190 Driver Front Airbag Inflator May Rupture

RMISC-22V246-5412.pdf 99.327KB

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Manufacturer Notices(to Dealers,etc) – Dealer Message re N222366190 – Safety Recall Driver Front Airbag Inflator May Rupture Application for Used Vehicle Working Capital Assistance Program (WCAP)

RCMN-22V246-4652.pdf 107.157KB

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Latest Recalls Documents

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/documentList.xhtml?docId=22V246&docType=RCL

 

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1 Associated Investigation

Air Bag Inflator Rupture
NHTSA ID: EA16003
Dated opened: August 4, 2016

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is upgrading its Preliminary Evaluation of ARC Automotive Inc. (ARC) air bag inflators to an Engineering Analysis. ODI opened PE15-027 in July 2015 based on two injury incidents involving a driver air bag inflator rupture. One incident involved a 2002 Chrysler Town & Country that utilized a dual-stage air bag inflator. The other involved a 2004 Kia Optima that utilized a single-stage inflator. Both driver air bag inflators were manufactured by ARC, a tier-two supplier of automotive air bag systems, at their manufacturing facility in Knoxville Tennessee. All ARC driver air bag inflators are a hybrid design that fills the air bag by releasing an inert gas mixture stored in the inflator at high pressure. The gas mixture is augmented by an ammonium nitrate based propellant. The pressurized gas mixture and propellant are contained entirely within a hermetically sealed steel housing isolated from external atmospheric conditions.

During the course of PE15-027, ODI requested information from ARC about which air bag module manufacturers used the subject ARC inflators. Based on the information received from ARC, ODI requested information from the identified air bag module manufacturers about which vehicle manufacturers used modules with the subject ARC inflators. That process identified two additional affected vehicle manufacturers, General Motors and Hyundai.

Based on the age of the vehicles involved in the two incidents in the U.S., ODI focused on single- and dual-stage inflators manufactured by ARC from the start of production to September 2004. It is estimated that approximately 8 million inflators, both single- and dual-stage, were manufactured for use in vehicles produced by Chrysler, GM, Kia and Hyundai for sale or lease in the United States during that time frame.

In addition to identifying models using the subject ARC air bag inflator, ODI requested that the affected vehicle manufacturers supply the details for any type of complaint, field report, lawsuit, arbitration or other report involving any vehicle manufactured for sale or lease in the United States equipped with air bag modules utilizing an air bag inflator manufactured by ARC regardless of inflator type (dual vs. single) or position (i.e. driver, passenger, side, etc.). No additional field failures were reported to ODI by the vehicle manufacturers. Additionally, ODI received information from ARC regarding the design, manufacture and testing of the single- and dual-stage driver air bag inflators.

In July 2016, ODI was informed by Transport Canada of a fatal incident involving a driver air bag rupture in a 2009 Hyundai Elantra. It was determined that incident inflator was manufactured by ARC and had ruptured in substantially the same manner as the two previous incidents known to ODI. The driver air bag module in the subject 2009 Hyundai Elantra utilized a single-stage inflator manufactured at ARC’s facility in China. ARC confirmed that the inflator in the 2009 Hyundai Elantra was substantially the same design as the single-stage inflator in the 2004 Kia Optima and was assembled using substantially the same manufacturing process.

The U.S. market model 2009 Hyundai Elantra did not use the single-stage driver air bag inflator produced by ARC in China. It is unknown at this time if any of the inflators manufactured in China were used in vehicles produced for sale or lease in the United States.

ODI’s investigation will focus on determining the entire US population of ARC manufactured driver air bag inflators, single- and dual-stage, identification of affected vehicle manufacturers, and whether any single-stage driver air bag inflators manufactured at ARC’s facility in China were used in vehicles produced for sale or lease in the United States. Additionally, ODI will conduct a program to recover the subject ARC inflators from vehicles in the field for further testing and evaluation in support of root cause analysis.

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Last update on 2022-05-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API