GM Expands Airbag Recall After New Testing Uncovers Additional Rupture Risk

General Motors is widening a safety recall, tacking on another 2,000+ vehicles after fresh tests showed some roof-mounted airbag inflators might literally blow up under the right (or wrong) circumstances. This latest round drags the 2014 Buick Verano and Chevy Cruze into the mess, both compacts rocking sketchy roof-rail airbags from supplier Autoliv.

Here’s the scary part: the inflators could fail at the weld joint because junk got inside the chamber during manufacturing. Federal safety officials say contamination causes corrosion, which slowly eats away at the metal near the welds. If those cracks spread? Boom. Deployment could turn into a shrapnel show, with metal bits flying and the airbag barely puffing up when you need it most.

Sound familiar? It should. This mirrors two earlier recalls covering nearly 30,000 vehicles, all haunted by the same gremlins. Back then, ripped-open inflators fingerprinted shoddy production. But GM and Autoliv kept digging through other batches—and bam, they found another bad egg with contamination levels just as nasty. That was enough for GM to hit the panic button and drag more cars into the recall vortex.

Let’s be real: a ruptured inflator isn’t just broken, it’s downright terrifying. Imagine metal chunks torpedoing through the cabin during some fender-bender you’d otherwise walk away from. No wonder automakers are sweating bullets over airbags these days. GM playing it safe here? Textbook damage control.

Fix is simple enough, at least. Dealers will swap out the faulty roof-rail airbag modules, and GM’s shooting recall notices to owners right before Christmas—festive, huh? Until then, drivers should keep their eyes peeled for that nastygram in the mailbox and book a service slot ASAP once parts roll in.

Third recall for this exact problem. Shows you can’t just slap a Band-Aid on aging cars and call it a day. Some ghosts from the factory floor just won’t stay buried.