If you’re one of the few, proud owners of the slightly angrier-looking 2014 Camaro, or one of the many to own the slightly less angry 2013 model, you may need to send it back to correct a problem. No, not spiders this time. The recall is about stickers. That don’t stick.
The recall involves the air bag warning label on the sun visor coming undone, which warns both drivers and passengers that having an explosive bag of hot air and chemicals designed to save your life could also leave you with a few cuts and bruises upon impact. No word on how many have this particular issue, however (the stickers, that is).
In its letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Chevrolet says owners can bring in their defective stickers to their nearest dealership to be replaced with either a much stickier sticker, or a new sun visor. They also state that owners who don’t have this issue — assuming they would notice — can send a note saying all is well with the world, and at least no spiders were involved. This time.
Wow! GM quality slipping!
Me, i’d much rather have a sticker that doesn’t stick. I take them all off of the cars I buy, and boy that can be very hard. Great forward engineering by GM. Right up mu alley!
or Honda putting the Odyessy label on the rear lift gate on the passenger’s side rather than the driver’s and have it as a TSB. Not sure if a GM Canadian autoworker puts the label on the visor but can asure you some central Ohio bumpkin put the Odyessy placard on the wrong side. Now who is lacking quality?
Supposedly the liftgate placard on the wrong side could mean it was repair due to collision and lower it’s value.
Stickers on interior trim most likely came from the supplier.
As usual Mikey, thanks for the insight.
at norm
i do supose you caught the sarcasm in my post and are just piling on.
Norm, it appears your sarcasm detector malfunctioned. Most people who shall we say are readers of sites like TTAC HATE these airbag warning stickers. An internet and YouTube search will reveal how tos for removal, a cottage industry selling stickerless visors, and cover ups to the stickers.
I would suspect many Camaro owners would find this to be a, errr, “feature,” and not a defect – as would many TTAC readers who likely wish that these stickers on the visors would fall off.
I mean let’s face it, it takes a special kind of stupid to try and mount a backward facing child seat in the DRIVER seat of any car, yet the stickers in the Hypnotoad motor pool that come from vehicles built on three continents in the last decade all warn me, that it is dangerous to put a child seat there.
No, it was my leeway into another pot-shot at the No. 1 & 2 companies recall cars. Most that read here don’t post and should be advised.
Oooohhhh it’s the recall bogey-man…
I’m not sure how many recalls my Toyota vehicles have enjoyed, nor do I care, as they have offered very high reliability and very low cost of ownership.
Too bad I can’t say that about my GM, Ford or VW experiences. But at least they’re not leading in recalls, right?
KixStart – err high recall count and high quality don’t go hand in hand on the planet I live on.
With that said not all recalls are really bad things (like the Civic being recalled a few years ago because the owners manual had a wrong page).
But objectively, when I read something that basically says I’ve lost count of the recalls but quality is great – my BMW / Audi / VW no it really isn’t that bad alarm goes off.
I’ve been taping over my stickers for years. Not because I don’t want to save the children, but because I don’t appreciate a constant, high-contrast distraction in my field of view.
I wish mine would peel off. Kind of silly to insist that this warning be visible forever and ever to any and all who enter the vehicle. My car was also delivered with a giant tag sticking out of the glovebox door which I removed – is NHTSA going to come after me for removing the equivalent of “DO NOT REMOVE” mattress tags?
Straight-man pet peeve time:
The “DO NOT REMOVE” mattress tags all say, if you bother to actually read one, “Not to be removed except by the consumer”.
They’re there to make sure that, if you care, you can find out the actual fabric content of the item (I believe it’s notionally to prevent Very Flammable mattresses somehow?).
The actual customer has always been allowed to remove the tag after purchase; it’s notionally there to protect you from deceit, not to bind you to having a stupid tag on your stuff forever.
(I suspect the “forever” stickers on visors are there to prevent/shortcircuit the “nobody told me this would blow up in my face or break my leg if it was up there” lawsuit.)
It is only in recent years that mattress tags read “Not to be removed except by the consumer”. They used to read “Not to be removed under penalty of law”. Us old timers remember them well.
Dr Johnny Fever should have feared the mattress police, not the phone cops.
I remember the “by customer only” part when growing up about 20 yrs ago. It isn’t some recent change.
Thank heavens for knowledgeable people like you clearing that up for me. Duh, I had no idea.
Hey, refresh my memory – does this admonition also apply to a frat mattress?
Title of a new kid’s book
The Very Angry Camaro
First thing I do is get out the goo gone and move these idiot stickers to the blank pages at the back of the manual. Doesn’t everyone do this? I wish the companies would use low tack glue on all of the darn things. What rock would someone need to be living under that they would need these nasty things anyway?
I wonder how many people actually read that sticker while they are driving along and then, forcibly, find out exactly what it means.
Fortunately, nobody reads the fine print while driving. Unfortunately, nobody reads the fine print anywhere, anytime. That’s why the stickers are there in the first place, put there by lawyers. Did you know the military has Claymore mines with a sticker on the bottom that reads, “Do Not Eat”? I have no idea why a soldier would want to eat his weapons, but some lawyer thought something was needed to warn against the possibility.
Oh hell, when I was in basic, we went out on our FTX and when we got to the staging area, our senior drill sergeant got up in front of the whole company and uttered one of the most unintentionally-hilarious lines I’ve ever heard:
“Privates, there will be no – REPEAT NO – eating in the Porta-Johns!”
Really? It’s necessary to actually SAY that?
When I worked in a metal fabricating shop I thought it funny that the chop saws (think chain saw with a 20″ blade for cutting I beams in the field) had a sticker warning that misuse could cause serious injury, while the lavatory towel dispenser said misuse could cause serious injury OR DEATH.
I wonder if this was GM, on their own, protecting themselves from future liability, or if somebody in the NHTSA actually pressed the issue and “suggested” the “voluntary” recall.
I wouldn’t place a bet either way.
In the old days, the answer was, “there’s no reason for it, it’s just policy.” Today it’s probably a government agency’s regulation. “In God We Trust” has been replaced by “Severe Penalties For Failure To Comply.”
When volkswagen said the other day that they didn’t understand the United States I was tempted to say that I didn’t either. This is a prime example. On what planet does one recall a car for a non-sticking sticker. If it is sold and you drove the car before it came off it’s a non-issue. If you have a drivers license you should understand a air bag by now.
Oh well. Time for my nap. The soap box is yours……
The same planet where avoiding this sort of recall is probably cheaper than the litigation or penalties that follow.
I suppose the line of thought is if the sticker can fall off (quality concerns aside) and somebody is injured or killed because the sticker wouldn’t stay in place, GM didn’t take reasonable action to prevent the incident from occurring.
Saab had the very same recall on early 9-5s. The stickers were too easy to peel off. Of which I was quite thankful, as removing the stickers on my BMW was a PITA, and removing them from my FIAT involved buying new visors from a buddy in Europe. I’m not an idiot, I don’t need to see the warning every time I get in the car.
This is a feature, not a bug. Those stickers are heinously ugly and do nothing.
Agreed. Maybe GM can share their secret with the other OEMs for creating a visor sticker that doesn’t STICK. Everyone I know always asks how they can remove these silly warnings as quickly as possible. Same goes for all those stupid stickers that come on TVs and laptops telling you (marketing) that your shiny new gizmo has 1080P or “Intel Inside”. A prime example of how to do this right is Apple: no stickers!
Also reminds me: I once got a sticker in the mail from Dodge asking me to cover up an incorrect sticker on my Dakota. I think it was something important about tire pressure… but that made me wonder: how many people even bothered to do this, or had already sold their vehicle before this fix was issued.
“You weren’t supposed to see this document. Erase your signature and initial the erasure.”
Years ago, a friend of mine bought his dream car, a black/black F355.
A week after he took delivery, he received a yellow Ferrari letter informing him of a recall; the horn logo on the steering wheel was not up to DOT standards and the steering wheel would need to be replaced.
He never got it done…
The most important thing those labels ever did for me was to teach me selective bits of French that I’ll never use. Or will I?
What if I ever go to Montreal and need to warn a passerby about something very unlikely, but plausible? I can say “Attention! Mise en garde! Sac gonflable!” right before they are crushed by a giant Zorb careening from a nearby path. Those things can be deadly.
This ^
Amazing post!
Get a Mustang.
No, no. Genesis Coupe on this site.
As I see it. We have Camaros, Mustangs and Challengers. All very fine cars. The merits of which, can be debated to no end.
A car with an Hyundai badge? Sorry, such a vehicle belongs in a whole different debate. Like which “fart can” works the best, or how high does my spoiler need to be?
I thought from the title that maybe those lame fake rear quarter panel vent stickers were falling off, one can dream…
@ PrincipalDan….Actually those stickers you see on the Camaro “fake vents” are an after market item.
I’m sure there available for the many Mustang models that came with “fake vents”
Just sayin!
One of the local dealers must be putting them on every Camaro that isn’t painted black. He’s doing the car a disservice.
Dan…Yes he is!
They are a geniune GM accessory. Gill Stripe Decal Package-Black part#20972524 MSRP $65.00
I wouldn’t be surprissed if they were also putting them on the black cars too.
At least he’s not drilling holes for his dealer logo anymore.
This is going to tank the Camaro reliability score in Consumer reports. I assume this will be considered a recall issue?
I absolutely love GM, but I can’t stand what they’ve done to the 2014 Camaro, especially the rear-fascia. Consider me part of the Mustang camp at this point…
This sticker problem beats the infamous Coca Cola bottle found in a door housing of a new Cadillac… GM improves!
Rather recall than don’t… I say. I respect a company that does the recall instead of leaving owners with some random fault. Makes me much more comfortable having that honesty.
So the airbag label came off my car’s sun visor?
(Activate Russian Accent)
“Apologies. Charitable givings of Flying Fucks not authorized.”
This is an outrage, indeed. I’m going to have to check my car for any loose stickers and blame the gov’t administration for such sloppy inspections and demand satisfaction.
I like all of the bright yellow stickers – makes me feel like I’m piloting some high-tech military machine.
This thread is full of win.
You guys made my day today.
Thank you for the belly laughs after a particularly trying morning.
Not to worry Kyree-when you see the Fusionesque “New Mustang” you will be back. Camaro still outselling Stang by over 5,000 units year to date.Maybe Ford will mix in some independent rear suspension to replace that hopelessly outdated solid axle. Maybe Ford will put in some quality interior trim to replace that scratch me if you touch me with even your fingernail stuff. Maybe Ford will increase their powertrain warranty to 100,000 miles like the General. Maybe Ford will figure out what a torque curve should look like. However, the reality is probably not. Ford Mustang will continue to be a second place ,lower priced alternative to the Camaro.
Maybe Ford will unceremoniously cease production after playing second fiddle to Chevrolet for 3-1/2 decades.
Wait…