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GM to Restart Sale of Chevrolet Cruze

General Motors Co. (GM) dealers can resume selling Chevrolet Cruze sedans as the automaker has lifted the sales restriction on the car, per The New York Times.

On Jun 25, General Motors announced that it plans to recall around 33,000 Chevrolet Cruze sedans fitted with faulty airbags produced by the Japanese supplier Takata Corp. The automaker recalled the 2013 and 2014 models of Cruze as the airbag on the driver’s side may fail to inflate in case of a crash. The automaker suspects that this defect is due to the use of a wrong part.

General Motors had advised its dealers to stop the sale of the 2013 and 2014 versions of new and used Cruze vehicles till the automaker identified all affected cars and found other details related to the defect. However, by the evening, the automaker located all 33,000 cars. Most of these vehicles are now with customers. As a result the company decided to lift the restriction on the dealers.

Faulty Takata air bags, causing diverse problems, have compelled many automakers including Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC), Toyota Motor Corporation (TM), Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (NSANY) and BMW to issue recalls. The faulty Takata-made airbag inflators installed in the vehicles of these automakers can explode and shoot metal shrapnel at the driver and passengers, thus injuring them.

This year has been very challenging for General Motors. To date, the company has issued 44 recalls covering about 20 million vehicles in North America. At present, the automaker is very cautious about consumer safety. As a result, it is undertaking further safety investigation which may lead to more number of recalls.

Separately, General Motors has also identified 800 cases involving Saturn Ion and Chevrolet Cobalt in which the air bags did not deploy. The automaker said that the front air bags failed to deploy in 189 Ion vehicles of model years 2003–2007 and 626 Cobalts of model years 2005–2010. These vehicles were also part of the faulty ignition switch recall.

General Motors announced that the faulty ignition switches, which led to the recall of 3,360,555 million vehicles of model years 2000 to 2014 from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, were made in China by Dalian Alps Electronics Co Ltd. According to the company, a heavy key ring or uneven roads can cause the ignition switch to shift away from the run position, thus affecting the power steering and power braking. In such a situation, air bags will not be deployed in case of a crash.

The recalled vehicles includes include Buick Lacrosse of model years 2005–2009, Chevrolet Impala of model years 2006–2014, Cadillac Deville of model years 2000–2005, Cadillac DTS of model years 2007–2011, Buick Lucerne of model years 2006–2011, Buick Regal LS & GS of model year 2005, Chevy Monte Carlo of model years 2006–2008.

General Motors currently holds a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

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