Filed under: Truck, Safety, Chevrolet, GMC



General Motors has been enduring some serious problems with recalls recently, and it is hoping to avoid launching another major safety campaign. 200,921 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups are under the microscope due to a rare problem with their instruments, an issue GM calls calls "inconsequential to motor vehicle safety." The Detroit-based automaker believes that the glitch is so minor that it has filed a petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asking the government safety watchdog for permission to pass on recalling the vehicles.

The fault at issue can occasionally cause the instrument cluster to reset when drivers use the steering wheel controls to browse songs from an external media device connected to the truck's USB ports. If a song's title information exceeds 2,000 bytes, according to The Detroit News, then the instrument panel can reset, which in turn causes the gauges, shift position indicator and cruise control telltale to turn off briefly. When rebooting, other instrument panel lights may briefly illuminate without their functions actually being activated. GM claims that if this does happen, the instrument display lights go out for about 1.5 seconds and the bulb check lasts a further five seconds. However, this snafu has no actual affect on the truck's operation. The glitch is present in trucks built between January 29, 2013, and October 28, 2013.

GM apparently first found the problem in a test vehicle on September 20, 2013, and it confirmed the cause in October. It sent a letter to NHTSA at the end of October asking for an exemption to a recall. "We do not think this issue presents a threat to safety and we are asking the NHTSA to agree. We will wait for the agency's response and if the petition is rejected, we would conduct a field action," said GM spokesperson Alan Adler to Autoblog in an email. According to The Detroit News, the only reported cases of the problem have been in GM's test fleet. The letter submitted to NHTSA is attached below.

Continue reading GM tells NHTSA pickup truck electronic glitch is 'inconsequential'

GM tells NHTSA pickup truck electronic glitch is 'inconsequential' originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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