General Motors recalled more than 12,000 model year 2009 Cadillac CTS cars for a safety defect in its advanced airbag system.  A defect in the software of the Passenger Sensing System can turn off the passenger airbag even though a passenger is sitting in the seat.  This defect, which occurs when the Passenger Sensing System tries to initialize, causes these vehicles to fail to comply with FMVSS 208, the government’s safety standard for occupant crash protection.

Internally, GM first became aware of the problem in July of 2008, and later found four cars with this same defect in their own test fleet.  In November 2008, General Motors notified the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it was conducting the recall.  The government assigned recall number 08V-582 to this safety defect.