Chevrolet defect petition DP14001
Passenger Air Bag OCS Algorithm. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this defect petition about the sensor/control module-inactive on 1 model year (2008). Opened Jul 22, 2014, closed Mar 7, 2017 after 2.6 years without a recall. closed
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedThe Agency received a petition on November 14, 2013 requesting an investigation into the operation of the passenger air bag Occupant Classification System (OCS) software logic and algorithm. The petitioner states that due to this alleged defect, the passenger air bag may be suppressed at point of impact and not provided the occupant protection as needed in a crash. On July 22, 2014, NHTSA opened DP14-001 to further review the crash event and perform a more comprehensive search and analysis of the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).The Agency also collected manufacturers reports on the alleged OCS issue on the subject Impala vehicles and other GM and non-GM peer vehicles. After examination of the petition and available data relating to the subject vehicle's OCS and the specific crash incident where the OCS allegedly failed to operate properly, NHTSA did not identify an issue with the MY2008 Impala involved in the subject crash, nor has it identified a safety-related defect trend existing in the OCS used in the MY 2006-2008 Impala vehicles, in GM peer vehicles or in other non-GM peer vehicles. NHTSA has concluded that further expenditure of the agency's investigative resources is not warranted. The agency accordingly has denied the petition. 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 defect petition. The single complaint and crash noted in the Failure Report above is the petitioner's VOQ (10568388) and can be reviewed online at https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=10568388.
A Defect Petition is a petition from a member of the public asking NHTSA to open a defect investigation; the agency grants or denies it and publishes the reasons. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the opening and closing resumes with the full reasoning are on NHTSA’s site under this number.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one closed without a recall. That means NHTSA found no defect trend it chose to act on at the time, or the manufacturer addressed the condition another way (a service campaign or a bulletin, which have their own pages). A closed file can be reopened if new reports arrive.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named: 2008 Chevrolet Impala.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs DP14001 a recall?
No. A defect petition is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Is DP14001 still open?
No. It closed on Mar 7, 2017 without a recall.
Which vehicles does DP14001 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2008 Chevrolet Impala. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.