By Angelo Young -
General Motors NYSE:GM said owners of certain recent Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet cars need to take their cars to a local GM dealership to ensure a bolt is tight enough to prevent a loss of steering control while the car is in motion. Only 106 cars potentially could be affected, GM says, including three Cadillac XTS luxury sedans that require other bolt inspections.
“If any of the components separate, the vehicle may have a loss of steering, increasing the risk of a crash,” Jennifer Timian, head of recall management at the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said in a recall-acknowledgement letter dated Monday. GM said it began notifying owners and dealers of the affected vehicles late last month.
The recall announcement affects certain 2014 Buick Regal mid-sized cars, 2014 Cadillac XTS luxury sedans, 2014 Chevrolet Impala full-sized sedans and 2014 Chevrolet Camaro muscle cars.
The problem was attributed to an “employee in charge of correcting the torque level” of steering component bolts at GM’s Oshawa Car Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada, the NHTSA letter says.
The so-called I-shaft bolt in the Impala, Cadillac XTS and Buick Regal is located on the steering shaft accessible from near the base of the driver’s side seat, pictured here:
The I-shaft bolt in the Chevrolet Camaro is on the driver’s side of the engine compartment, photographed here:
GM also says three individual Cadillac XTS luxury sedans also require additional bolt inspections at the front wheel hub and the left side tie rod. Here are the Vehicle Inspection Numbers for those three cars: 2G1175S36E9159731, 2G61M5S37E9158011 and 2GEXG6U37E9161659
Owners can contact NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 or 1-800-424-9153 for further questions, or enter their vehicle identification numbers at NHTSA here or directly at GM here.