Detroit, MI — May 7, 2015 — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released a recall statement potentially affecting 3,690 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles manufactured between April and August in 2012 with the 2013 model year. General Motors instituted the recall last month, and an estimated “100 percent” of these vehicles are believed to have the targeted defect, which concerns the illuminated indicator on the shift console.
As the safety recall report on this case describes, this fault could prevent shift positions from being lit up when the cars are in use. Although the report says this happens “in rare circumstances,” it also notes that this is still in violation of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 102. The condition is believed to be caused by a flash memory corruption in the PRNDM display.
The actions dates back to tests on these vehicles conducted in 2012, and includes a petition action from General Motors in that year: the company argued that its noncompliance related to an “inconsequential” element of the cars, and later revised its original report.
This document also features a description of exactly why the panel display error could be considered dangerous to drivers. Only vehicles with base-level instrument-panel clusters are at risk.
“If the console shift indicator does not illuminate the shift position selected, a driver could inadvertently select a transmission position other than the position the driver intended, increasing the risk of a crash,” the statement says. Dealers will address the problem by replacing “the bezel assembly, which contains the PRNDM control module.”
With the right recall information, manufacturer actions will have the desired effect, and potentially dangerous autos will be fixed in time to prevent further damage or injury. The defect in question could still be damaged if limited to one area of the vehicle.
