GM Recalls Autos To Fix Air Bags

General Motors Corp. is recalling nearly 1 million cars with air bags that can deploy inadvertently, company officials said Monday.

About 863,000 GM Chevrolet Cavaliers and Pontiac Sunfires from the 1996 and 1997 model years are being recalled, along with 103,000 Cadillac DeVille, Concours, Eldorado, and Seville cars from model year 1995, said GM spokesman Kyle Johnson.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was investigating 96 complaints involving Cavalier and Sunfire air bags inadvertently deploying while the cars were being driven under normal conditions over paved roads.

GM told the agency there was an increased risk of an air bag deployment in a low-speed crash or when an object strikes the car's floor. An agency report said there were complaints of 10 crashes and 53 injuries.

It is the latest problem to cloud the performance of air bags, which have been blamed for killing several dozen children in low-speed crashes. The government now advises parents to put children in the back seat of cars with passenger-side air bags.

The GM recall was first reported Monday by USA Today.

The autos are being recalled to change the software programming for the air bag computer, Johnson said. Notification letters are being mailed to owners in the next four to six weeks. GM will pay for the repairs free of charge.

About 188,000 of the Cavaliers and Sunfires are being recalled from Canada, Johnson said.

The government safety agency also was investigating 70 complaints that the Cadillac air bags deployed inadvertently causing 39 injuries, according to agency reports.

If the interior of the Cadillacs get soaked from water spills or from leaving a window open when it rains, the air bags might deploy when the ignition is turned on, an agency report said.

GM had notified owners earlier to be careful about water in the cars. Now dealers are moving to protect the air bag sensing and diagnostic module from water, and many owners have already been notified about that recall, Johnson said.

There are other ongoing government investigations of inadvertent air bag deployments.

The agency is investigating the death of a woman allegedly by the inadvertent deployment of her 1994 Mitsibishi Mirage air bag in a parking lot.

NHTSA officials are conducting an engineering analysis of the air bag systems on about 500,000 Chrysler minivans from model year 1994 and about 375,000 Chrysler Dodge and Plymouth Neons from model year 1995.

There are 98 consumer complaints about Chrysler Neon air bags deploying unnecessarily. That allegedly caused 13 crashes in which 28 people were injured, according to government records. In the Neons, half the reported incidents happened while driving on a smooth pavement and the rest when the vehicles hit a curb, pothole, debris, or a road bump.
In the Chrysler minivans, several drivers complained that air bags deployed while they were startinthe minivans. The same air bag systems are on the 1994 Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyager, and Chrysler Town & Country minivans.

There are also ongoing investigations of several Subaru, Mazda, and Volvo models.

Written by Catherine Strong