Chalk another recall up to road salt damage. General Motors is recalling nearly 250,000 Chevrolet TrailBlazers and its various corporate SUV clones in Snow Belt states for a fire risk due to electrical problems.
The SUVs can have a short circuit in the power window and lock controls in the driver’s door that can result in a fire, according to documents posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Covered by the recall are 249,260 of GM’s 2006 and 2007 models of the Chevy TrailBlazer, Buick Rainier, GMC Envoy, Saab 9-7X and Isuzu Ascender.
The vehicles affected include only those originally sold or now registered in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and D.C.
GM said salty water can get into the driver’s door lock and window control module, causing corrosion that could result in a short in the circuit board. That could cause the lock and window switches to work intermittently or not at all. But it also could cause overheating that could melt the parts, “producing odor, smoke, or a fire. It has reports of 28 incidents and no injuries.
GM is working on a fix and will notify owners to go to dealers for a repair, according to the NHTSA, which began investigating the complaints earlier this year. A notification schedule has not been determined yet.