— A federal investigation into power steering problems in General Motors trucks is closed following a recall of 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and 2015 GMC Canyon trucks.
In May 2019, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened a probe into a 2016 recall of about 3,000 model year 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and 2015 GMC Canyon trucks.
The 2016 recall was issued based on reports the trucks were losing their electric power steering, but many 2015 Colorado and Canyon trucks were not included in the 2016 recall.
By May 2019, NHTSA had received 50 complaints about the 2015 model year trucks losing electric power steering assist, and all the complaints involved trucks that weren't included in the 2016 recall. However, the trucks suffered from the exact same problems as the trucks recalled in 2016.
During the recall query, NHTSA discovered more than 340 complaints that were submitted to the government and another 924 steering complaints that had been sent to GM. In addition to 1,176 total complaints, seven reports indicated the loss of power steering caused crashes.
NHTSA shut down its investigation after General Motors recalled more than 60,000 trucks in April 2021 so dealerships could replace the steering gear torque sensor cover assemblies with connectors coated with anti-corrosion gel.
GM told the government the repairs should fix any power steering problems in the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon trucks. GM says drivers lost power steering because connectors got corroded, and it's possible the connectors were originally damaged by the supplier.
The trucks don't lose complete steering control because manual steering remains, but suddenly losing power steering while driving can be dangerous, especially at slow speeds.
The automaker also determined only Chevy and GMC trucks built after May 22, 2015, were affected.
NHTSA says it will monitor the latest GM recall to ensure the power steering problems are over.
