With all the car recalls in the news lately, you may have a hard time keeping track of them all. From Toyota to GM, many major car companies have some consumer product recall on the books right now. The latest recall by General Motors involves middle-seat restraint system defects in the 2009-2010 crossover SUVs.

The GM Seat Belt Failure Recall involves nearly a quarter of a million GM vehicles in the United States, Mexico, Canada and overseas.

If you own a 2009-2010 Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, or Saturn Outlook, you are driving a car that could fail to restrain your passengers when and if you are involved in an accident. The defective crossover SUV seat belts have serious problems with their middle-row seat belts. When the seats are returned to an upright position after being laid flat, the latching mechanism for the seat belts can be caught and make the belt appear to be latched when it really is not fully latched. This could lead to serious injuries and even death if you are involved in an accident and thrown from your seat because of the belt’s inability to restrain you.

The recalled SUV’s second-row seat side trim shield restricts the upward rotation of the seat belt buckle when the seat back is returned to a seating position after being folded flat. When you return your seat to an upright position, if the buckle makes contact with the seat frame, the buckle may receive cosmetic damage as the seat back is being returned to its upright position, but the real damage is to the latch. When the trim shield is damaged, it prevents the latch from fully locking and you may think your seat belt is latched properly when it really is not.

If the seat is hard to return to an upright position, you may have to apply additional force to reposition the seat. If enough force is applied, the buckle cover could be pushed down by the strap, causing a partial depression of the red release button. This means the belt will not latched properly the next time you use it, and it can easily be loosened if you are involved in an accident. This is a second design flaw with the GM models that are being recalled.

GM executive director of safety, Jeff Boyer, released this statement about the recall:

Because of the potential for a false-latch condition, we want customers to return their vehicles to have the recall repair performed as soon as possible.

At BISNAR | CHASE we want your family to remain safe. There are many defective products released each year by greedy carmakers. All these defects place your family in danger.

Please check out a listing of other auto defect issues, and the auto safety litigation that has resulted from carmakers’ inability to place your safety above their profits.

Note: Knowing if a defective auto product caused your car accident can be critical to your personal injury settlement. To learn more about auto defects, request your free copy of “Still Unsafe at Any Speed — Auto Defects That Cause Wrongful Deaths and Catastrophic Injuries” by Brian Chase. Brian’s book is the only comprehensive auto defect book published since 1965 when Ralph Nader released “Unsafe at Any Speed.” This easy-to-read auto products liability book enables readers to understand valuable information on specifics of common vehicle defects and the implications they have on our lives. To read the real-life examples, request your complimentary copy of “Still Unsafe at Any Speed” today.