CSR

Recall · 21V054000

General Motors recalled 14 models over air bags

1,778,128

Vehicles covered

14

Models

66

Model years

February 5, 2021

Filed with NHTSA

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

The defect
General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2014 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 2500, Silverado 3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 2500, Sierra 3500, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of AL, CA, FL, GA, HI, LA, MS, SC, TX, PR, AS, GU, the MP, and VI or "Zone A." Additionally GM is recalling certain 2011-2014 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 2500, Silverado 3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 2500, Sierra 3500, Yukon, Yukon XL and 2011-2013 Cadillac Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado 1500, and GMC Sierra 1500 vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of AZ, AR, DE, DC, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NC, OH, OK, PA, TN, VA, and WV or "Zone B." Additionally, GM is recalling certain 2010-2014 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 2500, Silverado 3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 2500, Sierra 3500, Yukon, and Yukon XL and 2010-2013 Cadillac Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado 1500, and GMC Sierra 1500 vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of AK, CO, CT, ID, IA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MT, NH, NY, ND, OR, RI, SD, UT, VT, WA, WI, and WY or "Zone C." These vehicles are equipped with non-desiccated passenger frontal inflators containing phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN) propellant. These inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.
What it can cause
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
What the dealer does
GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate one, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed on February 25, 2021. Second notification letters will be mailed once the remedy is available. Owner notification letters were mailed to 40 VIN owners on May 11, 2021. A second owner notification letter was mailed to all other owners on January 24, 2022. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020; Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006; and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is N212328800.
NHTSA's note
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

The repair is free, whatever the age or mileage of the vehicle, and whether or not you are the original owner.

Which vehicles

A recall reaches a range of VINs inside these model years, not every car built in them. Yours may not be covered even if it is listed here, and the only way to find out is NHTSA's own VIN lookup .

VehicleModel yearsSafety record
CadillacEscalade2010 to 201420102011201220132014
CadillacEscalade ESV2010 to 20142011
CadillacEscalade EXT2010 to 2013Not published here
ChevroletAvalanche2010 to 20132010201120122013
ChevroletSilverado 15002010 to 20132010201120122013
ChevroletSilverado 25002010 to 201420102011201220132014
ChevroletSilverado 35002010 to 20142011201220132014
ChevroletSuburban2010 to 201420102011201220132014
ChevroletTahoe2010 to 201420102011201220132014
GMCSierra 15002010 to 20132010201120122013
GMCSierra 25002010 to 201420102011201220132014
GMCSierra 35002010 to 2014201120122013
GMCYukon2010 to 201420102011201220132014
GMCYukon XL2010 to 201420102011201220132014

How this campaign compares

At 1,778,128 vehicles this is a bigger campaign than 99% of the 19,818 vehicle recalls filed since 1995 whose size NHTSA published. The middle campaign on file covers 472. It covers model years 2010 to 2014, so the oldest vehicles on it were 11 model years old when the defect was reported to NHTSA.

Chevrolet vehicles have been recalled over the air bags 58 times before this, most recently in November 2020 as 20V736000. That is not evidence the earlier repair failed.

This site holds the complaint record for 56 of the 66 model years the campaign names. Their owners have filed 5,639 complaints with NHTSA, 4,417 of them before this campaign was filed. 2,108 of those name the air bags, the system this recall is about — a count of complaints, not of this defect. The earliest of them reached NHTSA in February 2010, 10 years before this filing.

The vehicles on this campaign carry 3 other recalls published here: 21V053000 (air bags), 21V051000 (air bags), 21V050000 (air bags).

Check your own car

A VIN check is the only answer for a specific vehicle, and it also shows every other open recall on it, which is usually the reason it is worth doing rather than reading one campaign.

Filed by General Motors, LLC with NHTSA on February 5, 2021 as campaign 21V054000. Every word of the defect, consequence and remedy above is NHTSA's published record of that filing, not a summary of it.

Compiled and maintained by . Data last checked 2021-02-05.
Independent developer and analyst