The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) have opened an investigation into certain 2020-2021 Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC vehicles because of a problem affecting the airbag system. The ODI have received fifteen complaints from consumers who say that the air bag system in their GM vehicle malfunctioned. Nine complaints allege the illumination of an air bag malfunction indicator (MIL) and six crash incidents had significant frontal collision damage but the driver frontal air bags failed to deploy. All the complaints received involve either GM vehicles covered by GM Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 21-NA-005 or CT4, CT5 and XT4 vehicles.

The TSB, issued in March 2021, addresses air bag MIL illumination accompanied by diagnostic trouble codes B0001-1B or B0012-0D. It also cites rust particles in the connection terminal interface of the driver air bag inflator as the cause of the air bag MIL illumination. Illumination of the air bag MIL under these circumstances may result in a non-deployment of the driver airbag during a frontal collision and increased risk of injury to the driver.

ODI is opening this preliminary investigation to determine the scope and severity of the potential problem and to fully assess the potential safety-related issues.