General Motors Seat Belt Recall Under Investigation

Feds look at 2014 GM seat belt recall of 1.4 million vehicles to determine if repairs were accurate.

General Motors Seat Belt Recall Under Investigation

Posted in Investigations

— A General Motors seat belt recall in 2014 is under federal investigation in 2019 to check if the recall repairs truly fixed the problems.

The 2014 recall was issued for about 1.4 million of the following GM vehicles.

  • 2009-2010 Saturn Outlook
  • 2009-2014 Buick Enclave
  • 2009-2014 GMC Acadia
  • 2009-2014 Chevrolet Traverse

The automaker said the 2014 recall was needed because the flexible steel cables that connected the front seat belts to the seat-mounted pretensioners could wear out and separate.

General Motors dealers were told to repair the problems by looking for signs of damage, and if needed, the seat belt pretensioners should be replaced.

However, customers complain they experienced the same problems even though their GM vehicles were allegedly repaired during the 2014 recall.

The owner of a 2012 Chevrolet Traverse with 70,000 miles complained about the cable that connected the driver's seat belt to the floorboard. With the vehicle stationary, the cable allegedly disintegrated and left the seat belt hanging by a few threads.

Another owner of a Traverse, this time a 2010 model, says the incident occurred while his wife was parked and getting ready to pull from the driveway.

"The steel cable on the support anchor to the seatbelt snapped while my wife was fastening it. This had a recall in 2014 and was fixed according to records. Chevrolet was contacted said problem was fixed, recall was closed, this is "Normal wear and tear" this would be very dangerous in an accident."

The owner of a 2011 Chevy Traverse says even though the seat belt cable was previously recalled and repaired, it broke after the repairs and had to be replaced.

"I will need to replace both soon and suspect that others are driving around with these defective units."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it wants to determine if 1.4 million General Motors vehicles should be recalled once again.

CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of the investigation.

Read owner reported complaints about the Saturn Outlook, Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Traverse.