General Motors Co. will recall about 38,000 Pontiac G8 sedans from model years 2008 and 2009 in order to address an issue involving the vehicle’s passenger-side airbag, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The concern is that the passenger-side airbags in these vehicles do not comply with federal standards for head injury protection. In the current models, when the front seat is completely forward, the seat-position sensor will cause a slight delay in the proper deployment of the airbag, which could lead to poor protection of the passenger’s head.
In particular, crash tests indicated that the risk was most likely among small women, especially because shorter people tend to move the seat all the way up in order to allow for more legroom in the backseat.
Junior government and politics major Jack Narron said that Pontiac should come out of this situation fine, as recalls are not unusual in the automobile industry.
“It’s similar to what happened to Toyota and their brakes, but excluding the slightly lower numbers from the earthquake, their sales have actually been really good,” Narron said. “It just shows that if people trust your brand, then recalls are fine.”
GM said that no customers have reported any complaints, crashes or injuries related to this issue up to this point. Nevertheless, the company did admit that the airbag sensor could sometimes be delayed, which could be dangerous to some passengers.
Junior marketing and supply chain management double major Nicole Eisenberg said General Motors definitely did the right thing by issuing a recall and preventing the potential for injury. “By addressing the problem, they are showing that they are being proactive and that they care about their customers’ well-being,” she said.
“Just like sentiment about Toyota may have dipped around the time of their big recall, I’m sure that Pontiac will be affected in the short term,” Eisenberg added. “However, after people realize that they have held themselves accountable, I’m sure that they will be just fine.”