CAMPAIGN: INCORRECT SEAT BELT. Buick LeSabre 1997

Models: 1996 Buick Park Avenue/Ultra and 1997 Buick LeSabre

TO: ALL GENERAL MOTORS DEALERS

General Motors of Canada Limited has decided that CERTAIN 1996 Buick Park Avenue/Ultra and 1997 Buick LeSabre model vehicles fail to conform to Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) 209, "Seat Belt Installations." These vehicles may have been assembled with one or more incorrect seat belt and/or seat belt buckle ends. If an incorrect part is used, the belt may not latch properly, increasing the risk of injury to the occupant should a vehicle crash occur.

To correct this condition and in order to comply with CMVSS 209, owners/dealers will inspect all front and rear seat belt latch ends and seat belt buckle ends for correct parts. Dealers will replace any incorrect parts.

VEHICLES INVOLVED:

Involved are CERTAIN 1996 Buick Park Avenue/Ultra and 1997 Buick LeSabre model vehicles built within the following VIN breakpoints:

Year Model Plant Plant Code From Through ---- ----- ----- ---------- ---- -------

1996 Buick Park Avenue/Ultra Buick City H TH618832 TH624431 1997 Buick LeSabre Buick City H VH400035 VH411913

IMPORTANT: 1996 BUICK PARK AVENUE/ULTRA MODEL VEHICLES WITH GREEN INTERIOR COLOUR ARE NOT INVOLVED.

NOTE: PLEASE CHECK DCS SCREEN 445 OR YOUR V.I.N. LISTING BEFORE PERFORMING CAMPAIGN TO ENSURE THAT THE VEHICLE IS AFFECTED. ONLY AFFECTED VIN'S WILL BE PAID.

All affected vehicles have been identified by the VIN listing provided to involved dealers with this bulletin. dealer not receiving a listing was not shipped any of the affected vehicles.

DEALER CAMPAIGN RESPONSIBILITY:

All unsold new vehicles in dealer's possession and subject to this campaign must be held and inspected/repaired per the Service Procedure of this Campaign Bulletin before owners take possession of these vehicles.

Dealers are to performing this campaign on all involved vehicles at no charge to owners, regardless of kilometres traveled, age of vehicle, or ownership, from this time forward.

Owners of vehicles recently sold from your new vehicle inventory with no owner information indicated on the dealer listing, are to be contacted by the dealer, and arrangements made to make the required correction according to instructions contained in this bulletin. This could be done by mailing to such owners a copy of the owner letter accompanying this bulletin. Campaign follow-up cards should not be used for this purpose, since the owner may not as yet have received the notification letter.

In summary, whenever a vehicle subject to this campaign is taken into your new or used vehicle inventory, or is in your dealership for service in the future, please take the steps necessary to be sure the campaign correction has been made before selling or releasing the vehicle.

CAMPAIGN PROCEDURE:

Refer to Section 4 of the Service Policies and Procedures Manual for the detailed procedure on handling Product Campaigns. Dealers are requested to complete the campaign on all transfers as soon as possible.

OWNER NOTIFICATION:

All owners of record at the time of campaign release are shown on the attached computer listing and have been notified by first class mail from General Motors (see copy of owner letter included with this bulletin). The listings provided are for campaign activity only and should not be used for any other purpose.

PARTS INFORMATION:

IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT LESS THAN 1% OF THE SEAT BELT ASSEMBLIES OR SEAT BELT BUCKLE ASSEMBLIES WILL REQUIRE REPLACEMENT FOR THIS CONDITION. DUE TO THE SMALL NUMBER OF VEHICLES REQUIRING REPLACEMENT, DEALERS ARE ENCOURAGED NOT TO ORDER CAMPAIGN PARTS FOR USE AS SHELF STOCK. PARTS SHOULD ONLY BE ORDERED WHEN INSPECTION DETERMINES THAT IT IS NECESSARY TO REPLACE A PART.

Parts required to complete this campaign should be ordered as a V.I.P. item, as follows:

Part Numbers for 1996 Park Avenue/Ultras are indicated below. Install only on an as required basis:

COLOUR MEDIUM ADRIATIC MEDIUM RUBY ------ GREY BLUE NEUTRAL II RED ------ -------- ---------- -------- LOCATION:

LEFT FRONT BELT ASSEMBLY 12532010 12532011 12532013 12532014 LEFT FRONT BUCKLE ASSEMBLY 12514330 12514331 12529004 12514333 FRONT CENTRE BELT ASSEMBLY 12532099 12532100 12532101 12533325 FRONT CENTRE BUCKLE ASSEMBLY 12532092 12532093 12532094 12533326 RIGHT FRONT BELT ASSEMBLY 12532018 12532019 12532021 12532022 RIGHT FRONT BUCKLE ASSEMBLY 12514330 12514331 12529004 12514333 LEFT REAR BELT ASSEMBLY 12532026 12532027 12532029 12532028 REAR CENTRE BELT & BUCKLE AND SIDE BUCKLES ASSEMBLY 12532035 12532038 12532037 12532034 RIGHT REAR BELT ASSEMBLY 12532027 12532029 12532029 12532028

Part Numbers for 1997 LeSabres are indicated below. Install only on as required basis:

COLOUR MEDIUM ADRIATIC MEDIUM RUBY ------ GREY BLUE NEUTRAL II RED ------- -------- ---------- -------- LOCATION: ---------

LEFT FRONT BEL ASSEMBLY 12529395 12529397 12529399 12529403 LEFT FRONT BUCKLE ASSEMBLY 12531064 12531065 12531066 12531068 FRONT CENTRE BELT ASSEMBLY 12531091 12531092 12531093 12531095 FRONT CENTRE BUCKLE ASSEMBLY 12531082 1253I083 12531084 12531086 RIGHT FRONT BELT ASSEMBLY 12529394 12529396 12529398 12529402 RIGHT FRONT BUCKLE ASSEMBLY 12531073 12531074 12531075 12531077 LEFT REAR BELT ASSEMBLY 12529421 12529422 12529423 12529425 REAR CENTRE BELT & BUCKLE AND SIDE BUCKLES ASSEMBLY 12529412 12529413 12529414 12529416 RIGHT REAR BELT ASSEMBLY 12529421 12529422 12529423 12529425

PARTS AND LABOUR CLAIM INFORMATION:

Credit for the campaign work performed will be paid upon receipt of a properly completed campaign claim card or DCS transmission in accordance with the following:

Repair Code Description Time Allowance ----------- ----------- --------------- IA Inspect Only, No Incorrect Parts .3

2A Inspect and Replace One Front Side Belt .5

3A Inspect and Replace Both Front Side Belts .7

4A Inspect and Replace Both Front Side Buckles 1.1 and Centre Belt and Buckle

5A Inspect and Replace One Rear Side Belt .9

9A Inspect and Replace Both Rear Side Belts 1.1

AA Inspect and Replace Both Rear Side Buckles .4 and Centre Belt and Buckle

6A Any Combination of Above Replacement Operations ***

Time allowance includes 0.1 hour for dealer administrative credit will be based on dealer net plus 40% to cover parts handling.

**** Add up the Labour Hours for combination of above operations actually performed - maximum of 3.0 hours.

Courtesy transportation supplied to customers within the program guidelines should be entered on the same repair order as the campaign repair using the Z79XX operators as appropriate.

SERVICE PROCEDURE:

INSPECTION

IMPORTANT: To determine if one or more incorrect seat belts or incorrect seat belt buckles have been installed, all belt latch ends and buckle ends in the front and rear must be inspected. The 1997 LeSabre uses an interior colour plastic end release style buckle with a red release button. The 1996 Park Avenue/Ultra uses a metal side release buckle. Also, the mating belt end styles are different.

1. Inspect all seat belt latch ends and buckle ends for correctness per illustration. Inspect all six locations.

1a. If all parts are correct, proceed to Step 3.

1b. If any parts are incorrect, proceed to Step 2.

REPLACEMENT

2. Replace any incorrect parts per appropriate Service Manual, Section 10-11.

3. Install Campaign Identification Label.

INSTALLATION OF CAMPAIGN IDENTIFICATION LABEL

Clean surface of radiator upper mounting panel and apply a Campaign Identification Label. Make sure the correct campaign number is inserted on the label. This will indicate that the campaign has been completed.

April 1996

Dear General Motors Customer:

To correct this condition and in order to comply with CMVSS 209, owners/dealers will inspect all front and rear seat belt latch ends and seat belt buckle ends for correct parts. Your dealer will replace any incorrect parts.

This service will be provided for you at no charge.

You may inspect the seat belt latch ends and seat belt buckle ends yourself or ask your GM dealer to inspect them for you. If you want to inspect them yourself and possibly save a trip to your dealer, please follow the attached procedure.

Please contact your GM dealer as soon as possible to arrange a service date. This letter identifies your vehicle. Presentation of this letter to your dealer will assist their Service personnel in completing the necessary correction to your vehicle in the shortest possible time.

We are sorry to cause you this inconvenience; however, we have taken this action in the interest of your continued satisfaction with our products.

Customer Support Department General Motors of Canada Limited

SEAT BELT LATCH END AND SEAT BELT BUCKLE END INSPECTION:

IMPORTANT: ALL FRONT AND REAR BELTS AND BUCKLES MUST BE INSPECTED.

1. Inspect all seat belt latch ends and buckle ends in your vehicle to verify that they resemble the appropriate illustration on the following page.

All six belt ends and all six buckle ends must be inspected.

1a. If all parts are correct, please let us know by calling our Customer Communication Centre at 1-800-263-3777 (English) or 1-800-263-7854 (French). This will allow us to remove your vehicle from further campaign follow-up communications.

1b. If any belt latch end or buckle end is incorrect, please make an appointment with your dealer to have the correct part(s) installed.

Object Number: 83846 Size: FS

Object Number: 82510 Size: FS

General Motors bulletins are intended for use by professional technicians, not a "do-it-yourselfer". They are written to inform those technicians of conditions that may occur on some vehicles, or to provide information that could assist in the proper service of a vehicle. Properly trained technicians have the equipment, tools, safety instructions and know-how to do a job properly and safely. If a condition is described, do not assume that the bulletin applies to your vehicle, or that your vehicle will have that condition. See a General Motors dealer servicing your brand of General Motors vehicle for information on whether your vehicle may benefit from the information.