NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Defect Petition DP15-004: Rollover Side Curtain Air Bags
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Defect Petition DP15-004 on June 11, 2015 and closed it on March 7, 2017. NHTSA's investigations file lists the Chevrolet Tahoe and Tahoe Hybrid for it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- DP15-004 (also written DP15004)
- Investigation type
- Defect Petition A petition asking NHTSA to open a defect investigation; NHTSA grants or denies it, and granting one opens an investigation.
- Status
- Closed March 7, 2017
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- General Motors, LLC
- Components
- Air Bags; Air Bags — Side/Window; Air Bags — Side/Window — Curtain
- Vehicles and equipment
- Chevrolet Tahoe and Tahoe Hybrid
A recall appears here only when NHTSA's investigations file links one to the investigation; NHTSA's summary or record can name others.
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Defect Petition DP15-004.
In June 2015, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this Defect Petition in response to a petition (see ODI 10568388) requesting a defect investigation of several alleged defects that can cause occupant ejections during rollover crashes in certain General Motors vehicles.
The petition focused on a 2011 Texas crash involving a model year 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe, which allegedly resulted in multiple occupants to be ejected.
One of the ejected occupants was fatally injured.
In assessing the petitioner's request, ODI reviewed information from the petitioner, technical information related to rollover side curtain air bags from General Motors (note: ODI did not request GM's field incident data), NHTSA's prior testing and evaluation work related to FMVSS No. 226 Ejection Mitigation, and potentially relevant reports in the NHTSA complaint and crash databases.
Based on the information available at the present time, NHTSA does not believe that a safety-related defect currently exists in the design of the rollover side curtain air bags in the model year 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe and other similarly designed Tahoe and Yukon vehicles.
Therefore, the petition is denied.
However, the agency will take further action if warranted by changing future circumstances.
The official petition denial, as published in the Federal Register, is available in the document file for this petition.
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Defect Petition DP15-004. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.
Chevrolet
All Chevrolet recallsWhat an NHTSA investigation is
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.
An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.
To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Chevrolet VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.
Sources
NHTSA's investigation record for DP15-004
Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.