A GM seat belt recall for all 2014–2015 model Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickup trucks is underway because the so-called tensioner cable connecting the driver’s seat belt to the outboard-side of the seat can fail.
In a crash, a fatigued or broken tensioner cable could break, increasing the risk of injury to the driver. Simply getting into the trucks is enough to cause the safety defect in some of GM’s most popular – 895,232 are recalled – and profitable vehicles. During June of 2015, GM refused to recall the trucks, recalling instead a small volume of Chevrolet Caprice and Pontiac G8 models (NHTSA recall 15V-399). Subsequent warranty reports forced this massive recall.
GM has now stopped the sale and delivery of the defective Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Series and GMC Sierra 1500 Series pickups that are in new or used dealer inventories, as required by U.S. law.
In some seating positions, the seat-belt tensioner can move forward of the seat back bolster, which allows the occupant to sit on top of it in a sliding motion while entering the vehicle. This action can bend the cable at a “severe angle over the seat-side shield, which over time may cause the cable to fatigue and separate,” according GM’s required NHTSA filing that was just made public today.
- For used and customer vehicles, dealers will enlarge the side shield opening, install a pusher bracket on the tensioner, and if necessary, replace the tensioner assembly.
- For unsold new vehicles, dealers will replace the retractor assembly with a redesigned one. All covered vehicles are under warranty.
Two Different Fixes
- On used and customer pickups, the added pusher bracket and the larger side shield opening will re-position the tensioner out of the path of the occupant while entering the vehicle.
- On new unsold vehicles, the replacement retractor rewind spring is more fully capable of retracting the seat belt and pulling the tensioner out of the driver’s entry path.
