Loose Bolt In The Rear Suspension Of 736 GM SUVs Could Increase Risk Of Crash

GM is recalling a small number of Cadillac and GMC SUVs following the discovery in March that the bolts in some rear suspension assemblies could be loose.

GM first became aware of the issue in March 2022, when a quality engineer at its Spring Hill, Tennessee, assembly plant noticed a Cadillac XT6 with a missing toe link-to-knuckle bolt on the right rear suspension. The company quickly initiated an investigation into the problem.

Looking through its supplier’s manufacturing records, GM found that all of the bolts had been tightened to spec, or so the tool operators thought. The source of the issue, therefore, was determined to be a problem with the supplier’s error-proofing equipment, which had been improperly configured following a change in the assembly process. That, then, meant that under specific circumstances, a tool operator could have failed to fully tighten a bolt without tripping the error-proofing equipment.

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Investigators then looked at 271 suspect suspensions and found another six instances of loose fasteners. Fortunately, there were no claims or complaints related to this issue, and also no injuries in the field were reported.

GM did, however, determine that 223 Cadillac XT5s made between December 18 and March 9, 2022, 159 Cadillac XT6s made between December 18 and March 7, 2022, and 354 GMC Acadias made between December 18 and March 9 could be affected by this issue. The automaker estimates, though, that just two percent of these vehicles will have the loose bolts.

It will get in touch with the owners of all of these vehicles starting on August 1. They will be asked to return their vehicle to their nearest dealership where it will be inspected by a technician and the loose bolts will be tightened to spec where necessary.

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