According to a September 2016 article from USA Today, General Motors (GM) has decided to recall of its own accord more than four million of its vehicles after they discovered a problem with airbag deployment related to computer sensing equipment.

This GM airbag software recall was initiated voluntarily by the automaker giant after finding that a minuscule computer module capable of sensing critical aspects of a car’s movement was going into test mode.

The test mode of the module prevents the front airbags in the vehicle from inflating and renders the seatbelts ineffective as well. According to USA Today, the first time this problem was brought to the attention of GM was in May 2016 when a Chevrolet Silverado, model year 2014, had airbag deployment failure.

After hearing of this incident, GM immediately conversed with Delphi Automotive out of Kokomo, Ind., makers of the module. The decision to issue this GM airbag software recall was made within a few months of this contact.

The module putting itself into test mode and failing to deploy airbags and allow for the full functioning of seat belts has been associated with three known injuries and one known death.

The GM airbag software recall affects 4.28 million vehicles globally, with 3.6 million in commercial circulation domestically. The following makes and models are the target of this concern:

• 2014-2016 Buick Lacrosse, Chevrolet SS, Spark EV
• 2014-2017 Buick Encore, GMC Sierra 1500, Chevrolet Corvette, Trax, Caprice police car, Silverado 1500
• 2015-2017 Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, Silverado HD, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL, Sierra HD, Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV

Consumers responding to notification of the GM airbag software recall will not have to pay for any aspect of the update. The software upgrade is not mechanical and does not take long to take care of with any of the affected cars and trucks.

Although critical, the GM airbag software recall is unrelated to the Takata airbag recall affecting at least twelve or more automakers from around the globe. The Japanese supplier Takata has an ongoing recall of 20 million or more vehicles for faulty airbag inflators which can explode on impact and send shrapnel perilously flying throughout a car’s interior during a collision.

GM is no stranger to recalls. The company paid out over $2 billion in legal damages, compensation to victims, payment of fines and settlement of a criminal investigation regarding its faulty ignition switches three years ago.

In the current case, however, the GM airbag software recall is completely voluntary.

Have you or a loved one been hurt in an accident by the failure of a GM vehicle to deploy airbags properly? You may qualify to participate in a GM airbag software recall class action lawsuit.