General Motors (GM) has recalled 29,000 Chevrolet Cruzes in North America due to concerns over faulty air bags provided by Japanese supplier Takata Corp.
GM is facing a lot of issues as the company has already announced 45 recalls this year, which affected more than 20 million vehicles. However, faulty airbags is not the cause of all the recalls made this year.
In Oct. 2013, a Georgia-based woman encountered an accident while driving her Chevrolet Cruze. The accident has left her completely blind in her left eye. In a lawsuit filed against GM and Takata Corp in April this year, the woman blames the defective airbag installed in her vehicle that has left her blind in one eye.
GM has already filed documents with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Security Administration (NHTSA) that the company has learnt of a lawsuit filed against it regarding faulty airbags used in its vehicles. The documents filed does not specify the Oct. 2013 accident; however, a Reuters report cites people familiar with the matter and says that the GM documents refered to the Oct. 2013 accident.
Takata Corp. is one of the biggest component suppliers to many carmakers. However, the company has faced a lot of problems related to defective airbags. Various reports suggest that the inflators in the faulty airbags explode with a lot of force, which leads to metal fragments hitting the driver and other occupants in the car. The faulty airbags are also said to not inflate on impact.
GM is not the only company that announced recalls of its cars due to faulty airbags provided by Takata Corp. Other companies such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan and more have also recalled millions of their cars in a bid to address faulty airbags provided by Takata Corp. Woes of Takata Corp. continue, but the Japanese company has announced that it is ready to assist carmakers to replace the faulty airbags.
The Chevrolet Cruze one of the top selling cars for GM. Cruze sales increased by 18 percent in May 2014 and GM was hoping for the car to perform well in June as well. GM initially issued a notice to its dealers to stop the sale of the Cruze. Dealers were also said to be worried as the stop sale notice from GM could affect their bonus that ranges from $10,000 to $150,000.
However, according to reports, the company has identified the vehicles with faulty airbags and lifted the stop sale order to its dealers.
