GM to recall millions of vehicles

General Motors said Monday it would recall more than 7 million vehicles, including pickup trucks and SUVs from Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC, because of an issue with air bag inflators from Japanese manufacturer Takata. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) since 2016 has recalled more than 60 million cars from around 20 companies because the Takata bags run a risk of exploding on deployment and have killed 27 people worldwide, including 18 Americans.

What took GM so long? GM, which will pay more than $1 billion for the recall, maintains the cars are safe. The company challenged NHTSA’s regulation four times since 2016, citing tests that it claims showed the air bags would not explode. NHTSA released a statement Friday saying the company’s vehicles were still at risk.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Michael Cochrane’s initial 2014 report on efforts to recall Takata air bags.