Warning: GM Recalls 135,000 SUVs for Broken Jacks That Could Kill Users
General Motors recently announced a recall affecting over 100,000 SUVs. It involves the SUVs’ tire jacks, which could kill users if they break. Here’s an overview of the new recall campaign and the affected GM SUVs.
What’s wrong with these SUVs’ tire jacks?
After GM performed internal testing, it decided to recall about 135,000 new SUVs due to an issue with their tire jacks, The Car Connection reports. This recall affects two GM models and a few model years. The two models are the 2020 to 2022 Buick Encore GX and the 2021 to 2022 Chevy Trailblazer.
Interestingly, according to Kelley Blue Book, the recall doesn’t affect the regular Buick Encore. In any case, about 56,000 Encore GX crossovers and 79,000 Trailblazer crossovers are being recalled. The issue involves the plastic tire jacks that come with the SUVs. If those jacks aren’t used according to the owner’s manual, they could break, causing the vehicle to crash down.
If that happens while someone is working under one of the affected SUVs, it could cause serious or even fatal injuries. Fortunately, thus far, no injuries have been reported from this defect.
How GM will fix this issue
GM will begin notifying owners by July 26, 2021, The Car Connection reports. Owners should take their SUVs to an authorized dealership, which will replace the plastic jack with a new metal jack for free. GM has been producing the new metal jacks since this past April 26, and it should be “less susceptible to failure through misuse,” according to The Car Connection. Until they obtain new jacks, GM owners should avoid using the old plastic ones.
If owners have questions about the recall, Buick owners may contact Buick customer service at 800-521-7300, and Chevy customers can contact Chevrolet customer service at 800-222-1020. They can also visit GM‘s recall site, where they can enter their SUVs’ VINs to see if there are any open recalls on their vehicles.
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at 888-327-4236.
GM has issued other recalls recently
General Motors has recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles lately.
For example, a few months ago, GM recalled over 7 million of its most popular trucks due to dangerous airbag issues. The Takata airbag recall is far-reaching and affects many other automakers. The airbag inflators are faulty, so over 60 million cars equipped with these Takata airbags were recalled.
Airbags aside, some of GM’s most popular trucks and SUVs were affected by a different recall around the same time. For instance, over 800,000 GM vehicles were recalled due to seat belt and suspension issues.
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