General Motors Co.’s share price up, stops the sales of Chevrolet Cruze to examine a potential air-bag problem

General Motors Co., which has recently recalled more than 20 million vehicles in North America, may now face a problem related with the air bag of its top-selling Chevrolet Cruze. Mr. Jim Cain, who is one of the official representatives of the company, announced in a statement that about 33 000 vehicles may be equipped with potentially defected air-bag modules supplied by Takata Corp.

Mr. Cain said in an e-mail, which was cited by Bloomberg: “We are working to resolve a mechanical issue.” The company also commented: “We are working through all of the issues associated with the part in real time, and we will move as quickly as possible as we stitch the facts together.”

General Motors Co. has temporarily put on hold the sales of its Chevrolet Cruze, which is currently the companys best-selling vehicle in the U.S. and Canada. The companys dealers in the U.S. were reported to have sold an average of 1 200 new cars of the model on a daily basis in May. General Motors Chevrolet Cruze is also being sold on foreign markets such as Brazil and China.

The company ordered dealers to stop selling the 2013 and 2014 Chevrolet Cruze small cars as soon as it found out about the problem. According to a person with knowledge of the process, who asked not to be named, the specific vehicles that may have been equipped with an incorrect part were identified later.

Vehicles that arent on the restricted list can be sold by dealers. Takata has been reported to be currently working on tracking down the defected air bags that it had provided not only to General Motors Co., but also to seven other auto manufacturers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. in the period from 2000 to 2007.

The problem with the air-bag mechanism have led to the withdrawal of about 10.5 million vehicles all over the world. One of the spokesmen of Takata in the U.S. refused to comment the situation immediately.

General Motors Co. was 1.39% up to close at 37.09 dollars per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of +16.56%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 16 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for General Motors Co have a median target of 45.00, with a high estimate of 55.00 and a low estimate of 32.00. The median estimate represents a +21.33% increase from the last price of 37.09.