General Motors is recalling 73,424 Chevrolet Cobalts for misrouted wiring that can prevent a driver’s side airbag from deploying during a crash.
The recall covers 2010 Cobalts — 59,474 in the U.S. and 13,950 in Canada.
Affected vehicles were built with improper side impact sensor wire routing in the driver’s side front door, GM said in an emailed statement. The misrouted wire can be chafed by contact with the driver’s side window being rolled up and down.
The driver’s side roof rail airbag can fail to deploy if the window is down and the wire short circuits, GM said in the statement. If the window is rolled back up and the engine restarted, the circuit will reconnect. However, the short circuit can reoccur if the window is rolled down again.
GM is aware of one crash resulting in injury that may be linked to the defect. The seriousness of this injury is not yet clear.
The wiring recall is unrelated to last year’s ignition switch recall of more than 2.6 million vehicles, including the 2010 Cobalt, GM said in the statement.
The faulty ignition switches, which can be jostled out of the run position and cut power to the engine and power steering, have been linked to 124 deaths and at least 274 injuries, 17 of which were serious.
