The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2009-2014 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans manufactured January 27, 2009, through March 7, 2014 with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds and less and equipped with front passenger air bags. In the affected vehicles, during a frontal impact below the air bag deployment threshold, if an unbelted front passenger's head hits the instrument panel above where the passenger air bag is located, the panel may not sufficiently absorb the impact. As such, these vehicles fail to meet the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 201, "Occupant Protection in Interior Impact."
The risk
In the event of a crash below the air bag deployment threshold, an unbelted front passenger seat occupant has an increased risk of injury.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will modify the passenger instrument panel free of charge. Notices to the owners of the heavy duty vans were mailed on April 28, 2014. The recall began on May 19, 2014. Chevrolet owners may call 1-800-630-2438. GMC owners may call 1-866-996-9463. GM's number for this recall is 14082.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Chevrolet Express | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| GMC Savana | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 |
Components: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Express | 2009 | 10 | 7 |
| Chevrolet Express | 2010 | 15 | 5 |
| Chevrolet Express | 2011 | 12 | 5 |
| Chevrolet Express | 2012 | 13 | 6 |
| Chevrolet Express | 2013 | 22 | 8 |
| Chevrolet Express | 2014 | 14 | 7 |
| GMC Savana | 2009 | 2 | 8 |
| GMC Savana | 2010 | 3 | 4 |
| GMC Savana | 2011 | 1 | 5 |
| GMC Savana | 2012 | 3 | 7 |
| GMC Savana | 2013 | 2 | 9 |
| GMC Savana | 2014 | 1 | 7 |
Other air bags recalls in 2014
38 of the 770 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2014 concerned the air bags; General Motors LLC filed 272 campaigns in all.
| 14V788000 15 Dec 2014 | Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) |
| 14V787000 12 Dec 2014 | Ford Motor Company |
| 14V770000 3 Dec 2014 | Chrysler Group LLC |
| 14V763000 1 Dec 2014 | Subaru of America, Inc. |
| 14V757000 26 Nov 2014 | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing |
| 14V700000 4 Nov 2014 | Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) |
| 14V668000 24 Oct 2014 | Nissan North America, Inc. |
| 14V667000 24 Oct 2014 | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2014