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GM seatbelt recall affects over 1m Silverados and Sierras

The Basics: General Motors will recall 895,232 examples of the 2014-2015 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups in the US. The campaign will also affect the trucks in markets worldwide, and the total number the company will recall is 1,037,982. The Problem: A steel cable connects the seatbelt to the vehicle, but over time repeated bending can cause the part to fatigue and separate. Injuries/Deaths: None reported. The Fix: Dealers will enlarge the side shield opening and install a pusher bracket on the tensioner. Technicians will also replace the entire tensioner assembly if necessary. If You Own One: GM will contact owners about the recall. The company hasn't said when those notifications would begin. More Information: There are still about 3,000 new examples of these older pickups at dealerships. Until mechanics fix the problem, these vehicles are subject to a stop-sale. Similar problems have affected the General's vehicles in the past. In 2015, the company recalled over 400,000 units of the 2011-2012 Chevrolet Malibu for fatiguing cables. It also hit over a million Lambda platform crossovers in 2014. GM Recalling Certain 2014-15 Pickups to Repair Seat Belts DETROIT – GM is voluntarily recalling 895,232 model year 2014-15 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups in the United States because the flexible steel cable that connects the seat belt to the vehicle can fatigue and separate over time as a result of the driver repeatedly bending the cable when entering the seat. This issue was discovered through warranty data, and there have been no reports of crashes, injuries or fatalities related to this issue. For trucks in the field, dealers will enlarge the side shield opening, install a pusher bracket on the tensioner, and if necessary, replace the tensioner assembly. The recall in the United States includes a stop-sale of approximately 3,000 new 2014 and 2015 model year pickups still on dealer lots. Dealers will repair the vehicles prior to delivering them to customers. Customers will be notified by General Motors. They also can look up their vehicle identification number (VIN) at either https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/ website or at https://my.gm.com/web/portal/ownercenter to see if their vehicle is part of the recall. GM also will voluntarily recall and repair these models in other countries where they are sold, including Canada, Mexico, and several countries in Latin America and the Middle East.

GM drops diesel engines for 2020 Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers

GM is officially discontinuing the diesel engine in the Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain for the 2020 model year. The 1.6-liter turbodiesel was always an oddball of an engine in the compact crossover segment, and now the experiment has come to an end. The Car Connection initially reported the news, and a GMC spokesperson, Stuart Fowle, confirmed it to us this morning.  “A huge majority of our Terrain customers have opted for one of our two gas engines," says Fowle. We canÂ’t say this eventuality comes as a massive surprise, as we saw news from couple of months ago that GM was dropping all-wheel drive from the diesel-powered cars for 2020. Low demand was cited as the reason for that cull, and itÂ’s the same for the little GM crossovers this time around, too. These vehicles were the only ones powered with a diesel engine in their class, but thatÂ’s going to be changing. Just as GM is going away from the diesel, Mazda is finally bringing its diesel to market in the CX-5. YouÂ’ll only be able to get that engine in the most expensive ($42,045) trim level, combined with all-wheel drive, though. The cheapest Equinox diesel starts at a comparably low $30,795. ThatÂ’s a $2,400 upcharge over the base 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder, and the value is questionable. Mileage is better, but diesel fuel is more expensive. Towing capability didnÂ’t increase over the base engineÂ’s 1,500-pound capacity, but the extra torque around town was nice. As diesels go in the U.S., this one was rather rough and noisy, possibly contributing to some turning their noses up after a test drive. Perhaps another reason for its demise was that the much quicker 2.0-liter turbo Equinox was only $100 more than the diesel. This engine offered significantly better towing at 3,500 pounds, too. You can read all about what we thought of the diesel in our first drive review here, but the 2019 model year is the last one if you had it on your shortlist. This article has been updated to indicate the source.

GM recalls 3.6 million vehicles for airbag-software problems

The Basics: General Motors is recalling 3.64 million vehicles across its lineup for an airbag-related issue. The recall covers the 2014-2015 Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet SS, and Spark EV; 2014-2017 Chevrolet Corvette, Trax, Caprice PPV, Silverado 1500, Buick Encore, and GMC Sierra 1500; and 2015-2017 Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, Silverado HD, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL, Sierra HD, Cadillac Escalade, and Escalade ESV. The Problem: Affected vehicles have a sensing and diagnostic module that controls the airbags and seat-belt pretensioners. The software it uses has a defect that can prompt the module to run a diagnostic test under specific driving conditions, which will also deactivate the front airbags and pretensioners. This means that it would be possible for those safety systems to not activate in a crash, potentially leading to injury or death. Injuries/Deaths: General Motors began an investigation that led to the recall after a 2014 Silverado was involved in a crash in which the airbags did not deploy. No information was given as to injuries or deaths. The Fix: Owners can bring their vehicles to a local General Motors dealer where a software update will be installed to fix the issue. The fix will be free of charge. If you own one: General Motors will contact owners of affected cars, and owners can check whether their vehicles are affected by visiting entering their vehicle identification numbers at either the GM Owner Center website or the NHTSA website. Owners can then schedule a time to have the update installed. Related Video: