GM Recalling 4.8M Vehicles Over Air Bag Software Defect

General Motors is recalling more than 4 million vehicles worldwide to fix an air bag software defect that has been linked to one death.

The company said Friday that in rare cases, the car’s computers can go into test mode and the front air bags won’t inflate in a crash. The seat belts also may not function.

GM says the defect is linked to at least one death and three injuries. The car maker is recalling a total of 4.28 million vehicles, including 3.6 million in the U.S. 

“A failure of the front air bags or seat belt pretensioners to deploy in the event of a crash necessitating deployment increases the risk of injury to the driver and front passenger,” according to a GM filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 

The company learned of the problem in May when a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado crashed and its air bags didn’t deploy. GM notified Delphi, the supplier that made the module. The two companies tested the modules and decided to recall the vehicles last week. 

GM will notify customers and update the software for free. GM says dealers already have access to the software update so they should be able to repair the vehicles quickly.

NHTSA news release listing GM models in recall

GM said will notify customers and update the software for free. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.