US closes 5-year probe of General Motors SUV seat belt failures due to added warranty coverage

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

U.S auto safety regulators have closed a five-year investigation into seat belt failures in some General Motors SUVs after the company issued extended warranty coverage.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in documents posted on its website Tuesday that warranty coverage issued in June of 2019 addressed the problem that caused the recall.

In 2014, the company recalled more than 1.3 million midsize SUVs because a flexible steel cable that connects the seat belts to the front outside seats could fail over time and not hold people in a crash. Dealers were to replace the lap belt pretensioners.

The recall covered Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook SUVs from the 2009 through 2014 model years.

But in 2019, the agency opened an investigation after getting four complaints that seat belts failed in the SUVs after recall repairs were done. No injuries were reported.

On Tuesday, the agency said GM extended the warranty on the cables to 12 years or 180,000 miles from the initial sale date of the SUVs. Technicians were to inspect the driver's seat belt cable for damage to a protective sleeve. If damage was found, the cable was to be replaced with new sleeve and a part that relocated the cable to mitigate any damage.

The agency said it closed the probe because of a high ability to detect the problem, a low rate of occurrence and the additional warranty coverage.