Fire Risk: GM Recalls 160,000 Canadian Pickups, No News on U.S. Models
General Motors is issuing a recall on select Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, including HD models. According to Transport Canada, trucks equipped with a power sliding rear window could have a defroster circuit that can melt itself or, in rare instances, catch fire.
As no fix currently exists, GM is asking owners to bring their vehicles into the dealership so that the fuse for the rear defroster can be disconnected while it works on finding a better solution. The recall encompasses 159,240 trucks from the 2014-2019 model years.
While one would presume that U.S. vehicles would be similarly affected, no such recall exists within the United States — not yet. GM spokesman Daniel Flores told Automotive News that the manufacturer was actively investigating U.S. models, noting that reports of fires were uncommon.
“When investigated, GM has found evidence of smoke and localized melting conditions, but no fire propagation,”Flores said. “Further, the rate of occurrence in the Canadian vehicle population, given the climates and usage patterns, is significantly higher than the rate of occurrence in the U.S.”
While it’s true that Canada is closer to the Arctic Circle, the Northern United States still spends a significant portion of every year defrosting windows and nobody wants to smell melting plastic while they’re driving —temperate climate, or not. Americans also buy a hell of a lot more pickup trucks. The United States purchases almost as many Silverados per month as Canada does in an entire year.
GM’s planning on notifying its Canadian customers via mail with a subsequent notice on how to proceed once a fix has been developed. We’ll keep you posted on the U.S. front.
[Image: General Motors]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Wow! Some of the characters on this website are unbelievable. There are guys on here who are car guys...then there are others that take EVERY OPPORTUNITY to bash a manufacturer or make a thread political. I really wish there was some heavy handed moderation so most this non-sense would be deleted and those guys would find somewhere else to go. Unbelievable....
This place (TTAC) is dying for want of passion, excitement, free debate, and yes...as a result of the (here it comes...daring I) "snowflake" sensitivities amongst some of the readers/commenters, and obviously, management (lily white, overly polite?, Hosers from the Great White North (I actually love much about Canada and Canadians, but their qualities of just taking the sh!t their government throws at them whilst rolling over, like well-broken sled dogs, and their inclination to freak out over the wrong flavor-of-the-day words - the movies Blazing Saddles and Airplane must be treated like porn in Canada, Eh? - are not among those admirable things I love). All my points about China benefiting like no other nation in history from forced technology transfers (e.g. 1 of MANY - forcing foreign companies to take on SOE Chinese JV Partner in order to do biz in China and have any access to China's domestic market to sell their wares, enabling outright theft of proprietary technology in a context where's there no legal recourse in China's "judicial system", etc etc etc) are spot on. I could spend an hour writing a min-dissertation on how China has essentially obtained an amount of advanced technology in the span of MAYBE 25 years that they, nor any other nation in history, would have been able to gain in 100 years, or arguably ever, really, through outright theft, but of people aren't already aware of this fact, what's the point? That companies like GM (Guangzhou Motors) are among the biggest "look-the-other-way" companies in this regard, based on short term corporate incompetence at its highest levels, is the salt in the wound for me, and whether I or anyone else here likes/dislikes or agrees with some or most of what people like Peter Thiel have to say in general, he was spot on today in calling out Google for betraying not only western, democratic values at their core root by ceding to all of China's censorship demands, but for literally calling Google's seditious entity (in the same manner GM is). But oh my, I put a stereotyped phonetic on some common mis-pronunciations of English words by Chinese-native speakers, AND THE PLACE FREAKS OUT (most Americans nor westerners have no clue how xenophobic and maliciously prejudiced Chinese are towards Americans and westerners - it is on 20x fold-scale comparatively speaking from their direction). China is on an inevitable collision course with the US and the west, in general; our fundamental value paradigms are very misaligned and competition for resources is the kicker. Now that they've stolen 100+ years of advanced technology transfers at no cost or adverse consequence whatsoever, their hand has been strengthened in a way thr0at the former USSR could only have dreamed about in their most fantastical visions. Walls out, Balls out. If you can't/won't/refuse to acknowledge these facts, that are historical and ongoing in real time, you're part of the problem in this hotly brewing crisis that's only accelerating at a rapid clip. Reach down, and make sure you got a respectable swinging d!ck and two respectable balls, ladies, if you see this ongoing red-alert crisis in its severity and significance for what it is, and in now it literally represents an existential crisis to our most fundamental values in the west, and our very fundamental way of living, and join the good fight before it's too late. BUT I GUESS I'll TRY NOT TO OFFEND ANYONE BY ENGAGING IN THE MALICIOUS, BRUTAL, SAVAGE ACT OF TOSSING OUT CHINGRISH MIS-PRONUNCIATIONS! (Knowing how Machiavellian the Chinese are in their aspirations, what's the point, anyways - they literally laugh at our PC and delicate sensitivities - and are seeing their you,ultimate goals as a cakewalk at this point).