About 5.9 Million General Motors Pickup Trucks, SUVs Are Affected By This Upcoming Recall

General Motors (GM) will need to recall about 5.9 million vehicles after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration denied its petition, which claimed their Takata air bag inflators were safe.

On Monday, the NHTSA said in a statement, “NHTSA conducted a thorough analysis of all available data provided on these air bags, including engineering and statistical analyses, field data, ballistic tests, and an inflator aging study.

Based on this information and information provided to the petition’s public docket, NHTSA concluded that the GM inflators in question are at risk of the same type of explosion after long-term exposure to high heat and humidity as other recalled Takata inflators.”

The recall will cost GM an estimated $1.2 billion to replace the defective air bag inflators – one-third of its net income in 2020, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Takata air bag inflators have been responsible for the deaths of 27 people globally, with 18 of those deaths occurring in the U.S., the news outlet said. These deaths occurred because the ammonium nitrate of the air bag inflators can deteriorate when exposed to heat and humidity, causing excessive force when imploding during a crash, which can send shrapnel inside the passenger compartment, injuring or killing the people inside the vehicle.

In the U.S., at least 63 million of the air bag inflators have been recalled, with the government estimating that more than 11.1 million have currently not been fixed, the Detroit Free Press said.

The upcoming recall will affect several of GM’s 2007 to 2014 pickup truck and SUVs models, including the Cadillac Escalade, Cadillac Escalade ESV, Cadillac Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Chevrolet 2500/3500, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Sierra 1500, GMC Sierra 2500/3500, GMC Yukon, and GMC Yukon XL.

In a statement, GM said, “The safety and trust of those who drive our vehicles is at the forefront of everything we do at General Motors. Although we believe a recall of these vehicles is not warranted based on the factual and scientific record, NHTSA has directed that we replace the air bag inflators in the vehicles in question."

The automaker added, "Based on data generated through independent scientific evaluation conducted over several years, we disagree with NHTSA’s position. However, we will abide by NHTSA’s decision and begin taking the necessary steps.”

The NHTSA said GM has 30 days to provide a schedule for notification of vehicle owners as well as a remedy for the air bag inflator repair.

Shares of GM were trading at $44.88 as of 1:36 p.m. EST on Monday, up $1.84 or 4.29%.