The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles. During servicing, a Passenger Presence System (PPS) may have been installed that was not correctly calibrated to the vehicle's seat type. As a result, the PPS may not properly identify an adult passenger from a child passenger in the front passenger seat, potentially causing the air bag to not deploy when it should, or causing the air bag to deploy when it shouldn't.
The risk
In the event of a crash, improper air bag deployment can increase the risk of injury.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger PPS seat service kit, free of charge. The recall began August 7, 2018. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 18208.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Chevrolet Malibu | 2016, 2017, 2018 |
Components: AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
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 Malibu | 2016 | 841 | 9 |
| Chevrolet Malibu | 2017 | 703 | 4 |
| Chevrolet Malibu | 2018 | 700 | 6 |
Other air bags recalls in 2018
85 of the 912 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2018 concerned the air bags; General Motors LLC filed 272 campaigns in all.
| 18V912000 19 Dec 2018 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 18V905000 19 Dec 2018 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 18V887000 13 Dec 2018 | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing |
| 18V883000 12 Dec 2018 | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing |
| 18V868000 6 Dec 2018 | General Motors LLC |
| 18V838000 27 Nov 2018 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 18V836000 27 Nov 2018 | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
| 18V806000 14 Nov 2018 | Ford Motor Company |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2018