General Motors is recalling 117,651 2013-14 model-year trucks, crossovers and sedans across all four of its North America brands to fix a potentially faulty chassis-control system that could fail and increase the risk of a crash.
A stop-delivery notice sent to dealers on Wednesday says GM has notified federal regulators of an “upcoming safety recall” to replace “contaminated” chassis control modules. The problem could cause an electrical short in the module that could lead to an engine stall, an engine that fails to start or the loss of the trailer brake in vehicles that are equipped with that function.
“If the vehicle experiences this condition and stalls while in motion, there could be an increased risk of a vehicle crash,” GM said in its notice to dealers.
GM spokesman Alan Adler confirmed that GM has notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the defect. He said 97,540 of the total recalled cars are in the U.S.; the rest were sold in Canada, Mexico or exported.
The affected models are:
- 2013-14 Cadillac CTS sedans, Escalade SUVs and Escalade/ESV SUVs
- 2013-14 Chevy Suburban and Tahoe SUVs
- 2013-14 GMC Yukon and Yukon XL SUVs
- 2014 Buick Enclave, Chevy Traverse and GMC Acadia crossovers; Chevy Express and GMC Savana vans; Silverado and Sierra heavy-duty pickups; and Impala sedans.
Adler said GM is unaware of any crashes, injuries or fatalities related to the defect. GM estimates that only about 1 percent of the 117,651 vehicles being called back have a bad control module that must be replaced, he said.
About 4,500 of the vehicles being recalled are unsold and will be held in dealership inventory until a fix is available. GM included in its notice to dealers an attached list of affected vehicles listed by their identification numbers.
Dealers will replace the bad modules once parts become available, the notice says.
“We are working with the supplier to obtain the required parts as quickly as possible,” it says. “When a sufficient quantity is available, the recall bulletin will be released and dealers can begin repairing vehicles.”
The callback will be GM’s 69th recall so far this year, covering more than 29 million vehicles globally. That number counts some models more than once because they’re being called back for multiple defects.
