Recalls and stop-sale orders leave GM cars sidelined at dealers

Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest times of the year for car dealers around the country, but the recent spate of recalls and stop-sale orders for GM vehicles will be putting the brakes on a lot of potential sales. Specifically, Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC dealers will be unable to deliver tens of thousands of large SUVs and crossovers, a segment that has seen a lot of demand in recent months because of unavailable parts for recalled cars, Automotive News reports.

When it comes to large crossovers, the recall of 1.3 million examples of the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and Chevrolet Traverse vehicles from the 2009-2014 model years is likely to hit dealers hard. These vehicles have been recalled for a front seat-belt cable issue.

As a result, some 68,000 new large crossovers currently sitting at dealerships or en route to stores will not be available to buyers while dealers wait for parts to address the recalls. According to Automotive News, GM told dealers on Monday of this week that they cannot sell the vehicles under recall until they are actually fixed, so buyers will not be able to take them home promising to come back for the repairs once they are available.

As for the repairs, the required parts "are not available at this time," dealers were reportedly told by GM. However, dealers will still be able to close sales without delivering the recalled vehicles, even though they won't be able to even use them for demonstration purposes. That essentially means that buyers can still buy a car without being able to try it out on the road and without being able to take it home that day. Some dealers have told Automotive News that they plan to offer loaner cars to those who still want to buy one of the affected vehicles until the repairs are implemented, but it is obvious that the recalls will still take a toll on deal-making.

Another important vehicle will be sidelined as well: the 2015 Cadillac Escalade. Cadillac has told its dealers to stop selling the redesigned luxury flagship while a problem with the passenger side airbag is fixed. Deliveries of the Escalade SUVs have stopped temporarily, and the vehicles are being held at the plants awaiting fixes before being shipped to dealerships.

By Jay Ramey