Safety Recall N262557310: Roof Rail Airbag Inflator May Rupture — 4,315 Silverado & Sierra Trucks

Safety Recall N262557310 (NHTSA campaign 26V325) covers 4,315 trucks — 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, and 2018–2019 Chevrolet Silverado 2500/3500 and GMC Sierra 2500/3500 — in which the roof rail airbag inflator end cap may separate, or the inflator sidewall may split. If that happens, compressed gas escapes and the end cap or other components can be propelled into the vehicle. Both known ruptures happened while the truck was parked and unattended.

Read the primary document yourself: Part 573 Safety Recall Report for NHTSA campaign 26V325 (PDF) — the current version, submitted 13 August 2026. The original 21 May 2026 filing and the Part 573 report for campaign 26V166, which this one expands, are also public.

What to Do Right Now

Run your VIN. VINs for this campaign became searchable on NHTSA.gov on 21 May 2026, and the expanded population was added in August.

• nhtsa.gov/recalls, or the Chevrolet or GMC owner app
• Our GM recall VIN check guide walks through it

Notification ran in two waves. Owner notification of an available remedy for the original population was mailed on 24 July 2026. Dealers were notified of the expanded population on 13 August 2026, with owner notification for those additional trucks estimated to start mailing 31 August 2026.

Customer service, referencing N262557310 or NHTSA 26V325:

• Chevrolet: 1-800-222-1020
• GMC: 1-888-988-7267
• NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline: 1-888-327-4236

Book it rather than deferring. GM has not issued a do-not-drive or park-outside advisory, and NHTSA's record for 26V325 carries neither. But the component sits above your head, the stated consequence is components propelled into the cabin, and both known ruptures happened to parked, unoccupied trucks. That is not a campaign to leave open for a year.

What Changed in the Expansion

An earlier version of this page explained GM's "-03" revision suffix in general terms and said we did not know what specifically changed. The current filing answers that, and the answer is concrete: a second inflator production lot was added.

The original recall, decided on 14 May 2026, covered roof rail airbags containing inflators from supplier production lot D273A — the lot matching the first field rupture.

On 6 August 2026, after a second rupture on a different truck, GM's Safety Field Action Decision Authority decided to expand the recall to include inflators from lot C314B. The filing states its own purpose plainly in the related-recall field: it expands 26V325 by including an additional inflator production lot.

That is why the population went from 2,785 to 4,315 — 1,530 additional trucks, and why the model year coverage widened to take in 2018 heavy duties that were not in the original scope.

The practical lesson is the one this page already gave, now with a concrete example behind it: a clear VIN result earlier in the year is not a permanent answer on this campaign. It has moved twice.

What the Defect Is

GM's description is specific about two distinct failure modes:

the roof-rail airbag ("RRAB") inflators, which are located on the left- and right-side roof rails above the headliner, may contain a manufacturing defect that may result in inflator end cap separation or inflator sidewall split.

And the consequence:

If the end cap separates from the RRAB inflator or a sidewall rupture occurs, the compressed gas will escape from the inflator and the end cap or other components can be propelled into the vehicle, potentially causing an occupant injury if the vehicle is occupied.

Two failure modes, one outcome. Either the cap comes off one end of the inflator, or the inflator's wall splits. In both cases the gas inside leaves through an opening it was never meant to use, and it takes metal with it.

Read the final clause of GM's consequence statement carefully. The risk turns on whether the vehicle is occupied — not on whether it is in a crash. An earlier version of this page flagged that reading as an inference drawn from a related campaign because we had not seen this filing. Now we have, and the wording is GM's own.

The field evidence points the same way. Both incidents GM describes happened to parked, unattended trucks. Nobody was in either vehicle, which is why nobody was hurt.

GM identifies no warning. The filing's field for any warning that can occur is left blank. There is nothing to listen for, no light, no smell. The VIN lookup is the only way to know.

The Cause: A Crack and a Drop of Water

GM's stated cause is unusually specific, and it explains why this defect takes years to show up.

GM believes the root cause relates to two potential supplier manufacturing defects occurring together — a small crack in the inflator canister introduced during manufacturing along with a small amount of water inadvertently being left in the canister after the washing process which allows for stress corrosion cracking over time, weakening the structural integrity of the pressurized canister.

Follow that, because it is a genuinely interesting failure. Neither defect alone is necessarily enough. A small crack in a canister might hold indefinitely. A trace of residual water in a sealed canister might do nothing on its own.

Together they produce stress corrosion cracking — a slow mechanism in which a metal under sustained stress, in the presence of a corrosive agent, cracks progressively along the existing flaw. The canister is permanently pressurised. The water provides the corrosive environment. The crack provides the starting point.

This is why the trucks are from 2017 and 2018 build dates and the ruptures are happening now. The mechanism needs years. It also means the risk on an affected truck is not static — the canister is weaker this year than last.

The supplier is named as Joyson Safety Systems, of Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The involved component is the roof rail airbag assembly, part numbers 84487867 and 84487868.

Why an Airbag Inflator Is a Pressure Vessel

Understanding this explains why a manufacturing defect in one becomes a federal safety recall.

An airbag has to inflate in milliseconds. To do that, the inflator holds — or rapidly generates — gas at very high pressure, released through a controlled path into the bag.

Which means the inflator is a small, sealed, high-pressure metal vessel, and like any pressure vessel it is only safe while it contains that pressure the way it was designed to. An end cap that separates, or a sidewall that splits, turns a controlled release into an uncontrolled one — and the escaping gas propels whatever came loose.

Location matters here too. GM's filing places the inflators on the left- and right-side roof rails above the headliner — running along the sides of the cabin at head height, which is exactly where they need to be to protect occupants in a side impact or rollover. It is also, unavoidably, right beside the people in the vehicle.

This is a different mechanism from the ammonium nitrate propellant degradation that drove the Takata recalls, and we are not drawing that equivalence. But the category of hazard — an inflator failing structurally and sending fragments into the cabin — is the same category, and it is why regulators treat inflator defects the way they do.

Which Vehicles

GM's current filing breaks the 4,315 vehicles down by model, model year and production window:

Vehicle	Production dates	Units
2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500	11 Nov 2017 – 24 Oct 2018	2,433
2018 GMC Sierra 1500	11 Nov 2017 – 24 Oct 2018	1,336
2019 Chevrolet Silverado 2500	8–23 Oct 2018	236
2018 Chevrolet Silverado 2500	17 Nov – 6 Dec 2017	72
2018 GMC Sierra 2500	17–22 Nov 2017	61
2019 Chevrolet Silverado 3500	8–23 Oct 2018	59
2019 GMC Sierra 2500	8–23 Oct 2018	56
2019 GMC Sierra 3500	8–23 Oct 2018	31
2018 GMC Sierra 3500	17–22 Nov 2017	17
2018 Chevrolet Silverado 3500	17–22 Nov 2017	14
Total		4,315

The light-duty trucks are the overwhelming majority — the 2018 Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500 together account for 3,769 of the 4,315, about 87%. The eight heavy-duty entries add up to 546 between them.

Note the 2018 heavy duties in bold. Those four rows — 164 trucks — are the ones an earlier version of this page wrongly told owners were outside the recall.

Look at the production windows rather than the model years. They are narrow and they cluster: the heavy duties sit in a few days of November 2017 or a two-week stretch of October 2018, while the light duties span a much longer run. That is what an inflator-lot-based population looks like — the boundaries follow when suspect parts were fitted, not when a model year started.

GM states that part traceability data was used to identify the affected vehicles, and that vehicles produced with parts outside the supplier's suspect production window are not included. So the VIN is the whole answer.

One scoping note we have corrected: earlier coverage of related campaigns described the affected trucks as Crew Cab only. The current filing states no cab-configuration restriction, and we have removed that claim rather than carry it forward from a different campaign.

How GM Found It — Twice

The chronology is short and it happened in two rounds, which is the whole reason this page needed correcting.

• 13 April 2026 — a GM investigator submitted a report through GM's Speak Up For Safety programme after a dealer reported that a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado experienced a potential rupture of the right-side roof rail airbag while the vehicle was parked and unattended. Photographs from the dealer showed the end cap of the inflator missing, and the headliner and vehicle roof damaged.
• 14 May 2026 — GM's Safety Field Action Decision Authority decided to conduct a safety recall of roof rail airbags containing inflators from supplier production lot D273A, the lot matching the Silverado incident.
• 21 May 2026 — report filed, dealers notified, VINs searchable. Population 2,785.
• 22 June 2026 — GM became aware of a second potential rupture, this time the left-side airbag in a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado, again while parked and unattended.
• 24 July 2026 — owner notification of an available remedy mailed for the original population.
• 6 August 2026 — GM's SFADA decided to expand the recall to include inflators from lot C314B.
• 13 August 2026 — revised report filed, dealers notified of the expanded population. Population 4,315.
• 31 August 2026 — owner notification for the expanded population estimated to begin mailing.

Two things stand out.

First, both ruptures were on parked, unattended trucks. One right-side, one left-side, on a 2019 and a 2018. GM states it is not aware of any other inflator ruptures associated with either lot — so the entire recall rests on two events, neither of which involved a crash or an occupant.

Second, the second rupture came from a different production lot. That is what turned a single-lot recall into a two-lot recall six weeks later. It is also a reasonable basis for expecting this campaign could move again if a third lot is implicated.

This Is Not GM's First RRAB Campaign

Useful context, because it tells you this is a known and actively managed issue rather than something new.

GM has run roof rail airbag inflator recalls across several years and several populations:

• NHTSA 20V736 — affected vehicles placed on stop delivery in November 2020
• NHTSA 21V504 — bulletin N202324251, covering 2015–2016 Silverado and Sierra, 410,019 vehicles. The 20V736 population was rolled into it in July 2021. That bulletin ran to revision 04
• NHTSA 23V674 — 2014 Buick Verano and Chevrolet Cruze, where GM later identified vehicles that did not contain suspect parts
• NHTSA 24V756 — bulletin N242474500, a further inflator campaign
• NHTSA 25V432 — bulletin N252513060
• NHTSA 26V166 — bulletin N262549710, filed March 2026, covering 2,819 vehicles
• NHTSA 26V325 — this campaign, bulletin N262557310, now 4,315 vehicles

The pattern is population refinement over time. As GM and its suppliers work through manufacturing and part traceability records, the boundaries of who is affected move — usually outward, occasionally inward.

What that means for you is simple and slightly annoying: a clear VIN result last year does not guarantee a clear result today. If you own one of these trucks, re-check periodically rather than treating a single lookup as permanent. This campaign alone has moved once in three months.

The Remedy

Dealers will replace the left and right side roof rail airbag modules, free of charge.

Both sides, regardless of which inflator is suspect. That has been GM's approach across this family of campaigns, and it is the right one when the question is which inflators came from a suspect lot.

GM states that remedy parts were produced outside the supplier's suspect production window.

What to expect:

• This is interior trim work. Reaching the roof rails means removing headliner trim and pillar covers, so it is a few hours rather than a few minutes.
• The remedy is listed as a phased recall, with dealer and owner notification running from May through the end of August 2026 as the two populations were worked through.
• A dealer cannot legally deliver a vehicle covered by an open safety recall until the defect is remedied.

One practical note: airbag work involves live pyrotechnic devices and is not a DIY job under any circumstances. Beyond the obvious hazard, an improperly handled or installed airbag module can fail to protect you when it matters.

Reimbursement — Read This One

This recall differs from most of the others we cover, and it is worth a section of its own.

On GM's recent campaigns involving new vehicles, the filings state that because all covered vehicles are under warranty, no reimbursement plan is offered. That is not what this filing says. Under the reimbursement heading it records that the manufacturer used the general reimbursement plan on file.

That difference is not accidental. These are 2018 and 2019 trucks. Many are well outside their original warranty, have had multiple owners, and some owners may already have paid to have a roof rail airbag problem investigated or repaired.

So if you paid out of pocket for roof rail airbag work on one of these trucks, ask about reimbursement. A general reimbursement plan on file means there is a process for it. Take your receipts and the repair order to the dealer, reference N262557310, and get the answer in writing rather than assuming a past bill is simply lost.

The recall repair itself is free regardless — parts and labour — no matter the mileage, warranty status or how many owners the truck has had.

A Note on Sourcing

We cite documents we have read and label the rest.

This page is built from the Part 573 Safety Recall Report for NHTSA campaign 26V325 submitted 13 August 2026, which we have opened and read in full, together with the original 21 May 2026 filing for comparison. That covers the 4,315-vehicle population and its model-by-model breakdown, the production windows, the 1% defect estimate, the defect and consequence language, the stated cause, the supplier and part numbers, the two inflator lot numbers, the chronology of both ruptures, the remedy, the reimbursement position and the notification schedule.

An earlier version of this page was built from NHTSA summaries and secondary reporting, and it contained a significant error. It stated that the light-duty trucks in this campaign are 2018 and the heavy duties 2019, and told readers that owning a 2018 Silverado 2500 placed them outside the population. The current filing lists 2018 Silverado 2500 and 3500 and 2018 Sierra 2500 and 3500 among the affected vehicles. An owner of one of those trucks who relied on the earlier version was misinformed about an airbag recall, and the correction is stated at the top of this page rather than quietly folded in.

Two further items from the earlier version have been corrected. The population figure of 2,785 was superseded by the 13 August expansion to 4,315. And the description of the affected trucks as Crew Cab only came from coverage of a different RRAB campaign; the current filing states no cab restriction.

The earlier version also noted a discrepancy over the owner notification date, with sources giving either 6 July or 24 June 2026. The filing settles it: owner notification of an available remedy was mailed on 24 July 2026 for the original population, with 31 August 2026 estimated for the expanded population.

The absence of a do-not-drive or park-outside advisory is confirmed against NHTSA's own record for campaign 26V325, not inferred from the filing.

The historical campaign list is drawn from NHTSA's own recall data for these vehicles and is included as context rather than as coverage of this campaign.

Recalls develop. This one has expanded once already, and the mechanism — a second inflator lot implicated by a second rupture — could repeat. Your VIN lookup at NHTSA.gov and your dealer are current in a way this page cannot be.

What Other Pages on This Recall Get Wrong

• Quoting the superseded 2,785 figure. GM expanded this recall to 4,315 vehicles on 13 August 2026. Most coverage predates that and has not been updated — and neither had we.
• Getting the model year split wrong. The recall is not "2018 light duty, 2019 heavy duty." It includes 2018 heavy duties as well. We had this wrong in an earlier version of this page and it is the most consequential error we have had to correct.
• Not explaining what the expansion actually added. It is a second inflator production lot — C314B alongside the original D273A — implicated by a second rupture on 22 June 2026. That is far more informative than "the recall grew."
• Treating it as crash-only. GM's consequence language turns on whether the vehicle is occupied, not whether it crashed, and both known ruptures happened to parked, unattended trucks.
• Missing the cause. Two defects have to coincide — a manufacturing crack in the canister plus residual water from washing — producing stress corrosion cracking over years. That is why trucks built in 2017 are rupturing now, and why the risk is not static.
• Missing the reimbursement position. Unlike GM's recalls on newer vehicles, this filing uses the general reimbursement plan on file. On 2018–2019 trucks that is a real prospect for owners who already paid.
• Carrying the Crew Cab restriction over from a different campaign. The current filing states no cab-configuration limit.
• Suggesting any part of this is DIY. Airbag modules are live pyrotechnic devices. This is dealer work.
• Citing the filing without linking it. Both versions are public PDFs and both are linked here.

Frequently Asked Questions

I own a 2018 Silverado 2500. Am I affected?

Possibly, and an earlier version of this page wrongly said you could not be. GM's current filing includes 72 units of the 2018 Silverado 2500 built between 17 November and 6 December 2017, along with 2018 Silverado 3500, Sierra 2500 and Sierra 3500. Run your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

How many trucks are involved?

4,315 as of GM's 13 August 2026 filing, up from 2,785 when the recall was first filed in May. The increase came from adding a second inflator production lot after a second rupture.

What actually goes wrong?

One of two things. Either the end cap separates from the roof rail airbag inflator, or the inflator sidewall splits. In either case the compressed gas inside escapes through an opening it was not designed for, and can propel the end cap or other components into the vehicle.

Does this only matter in a crash?

No. GM's consequence language describes injury "if the vehicle is occupied" rather than if it crashes, and both ruptures GM knows about happened while the truck was parked and unattended. One damaged the headliner and the roof.

Why is it happening to trucks this old?

Because the mechanism is slow. GM believes two manufacturing defects have to coincide — a small crack in the inflator canister, plus a small amount of water left in it after washing — which together cause stress corrosion cracking that weakens the pressurised canister over years. Trucks built in late 2017 are reaching that point now.

Is there a warning I would notice?

No. GM leaves the warning field in its filing blank. There is no light, sound or symptom. The VIN lookup is the only way to know.

I checked my VIN earlier this year and it was clear.

Check again. This campaign expanded on 13 August 2026 to include a second inflator lot and roughly 1,530 additional trucks. A clear result before that date does not cover the expanded population.

What will the dealer do?

Replace both roof rail airbag modules, left and right, free of charge — regardless of which one is suspect. Replacement parts come from outside the supplier's suspect production window. It involves removing headliner and pillar trim, so expect a few hours rather than a quick visit.

I already paid for airbag work on this truck. Can I get that back?

Ask. Unlike GM's recalls on newer vehicles, which state that no reimbursement is offered because all covered vehicles are under warranty, this filing records that GM used its general reimbursement plan on file. On a 2018 or 2019 truck that is worth pursuing with receipts and the original repair order.

Can I keep driving it?

GM has not issued a do-not-drive or park-outside advisory and NHTSA's record carries neither. But the inflator sits above your head, the consequence is components propelled into the cabin, and the canister weakens over time. Book it rather than deferring it.

Where can I read the actual recall document?

It is public. The current Part 573 report for campaign 26V325, submitted 13 August 2026, contains the defect description, the cause, both ruptures, the model-by-model population table, the part numbers and the remedy in GM's own words.

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Sources

• Part 573 Safety Recall Report, NHTSA campaign 26V325 (PDF) — General Motors, LLC, submitted 13 August 2026. GM recall number N262557310. Current version and primary source for this page; opened and read in full.
• Part 573 Safety Recall Report, original filing (PDF) — submitted 21 May 2026, population 2,785, superseded by the expansion.
• Part 573 Safety Recall Report, NHTSA campaign 26V166 (PDF) — GM recall N262549710, the campaign this one expands.
• NHTSA recall lookup — search your VIN for current recall status, and the source for the absence of a do-not-drive advisory. Campaign number 26V325.

Owner questions: Chevrolet 1-800-222-1020, GMC 1-888-988-7267. NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline 1-888-327-4236.