Buick Enclave Recall: 1.18 Million SUVs Afflicted With Airbag Defect

General Motors will recall about 1.18 million of its Buick Enclave SUVs, plus several other models, as the auto-making giant tries to react quickly to yet another safety defect. GM is currently facing several investigations for moving slowly on a recall about 1.6 million small cars with a defect that ended up leading to the deaths of 12 people. Those cars were recalled in February.

Last month’s recall involved a defective ignition switch in those cars that GM knew about since 2004, but failed to put a recall into effect for another 10 years. An auto industry watchdog group has said that GM is undercounting the death toll from the ignition switch defect. The Center For Auto Safety says the total is actually 303.

“Something went wrong with our process in this instance, and terrible things happened,” said General Motors CEO Mary Barra. “The bottom line is, we will get better as a result of this tragic situation if we seize the opportunity.”

That is what GM is attempting to do with the Buick Enclave recall, which also affects the GMC Acadia. The issue in this case is a defective air bag which may fail to inflate in the case of a collision.

The Buick Enclave recall affects vehicles from the model years 2008 through 2013, also the model years for the Acadia recall. The 2009-2013 Chevrolet Traverse and the 2008-2010 Saturn Outlook will also be recalled, GM said Monday.

And in a separate recall, 64,000 Cadillac XTS full-size cars are being brought back to fix an issue that causes the vehicle’s brakes to overheat. Two vehicle fires have already resulted from the defect.

GM Spokesperson Greg Martin says Buick Enclave side airbag issue has not resulted in any injuries that the company is aware of. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received seven reports of injuries caused the side air bag failing to deploy correctly.

Drivers who report injuries to the NHTSA are not required to report them to auto manufacturers as well, so it is possible that GM never received reports of injuries directly.

In addition to the Buick Enclave and other recalls, the company is recalling 303,000 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans from 2009-2014 model years. The problem there is that the instrument panel is not padded enough to protect a passenger’s head if strikes the panel in a crash.

“I asked our team to redouble our efforts on our pending product reviews, bring them forward and resolve them quickly,” said Barra, announcing the Buick Enclave recall. “That is what today’s GM is all about.”