General Motors recalls 5,000 heavy duty vans due to fire risk

General Motors Co (GM) said it would recall about 5,000 heavy duty vans built in February and March and halt production and sale because of a risk of engine fires due to a suspected faulty alternator.

GM said in a notice on Friday it was still determining how to fix the issue, which affects heavy-duty 2010 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana passenger and cargo vans. Owners should stop driving the vans, park them away from buildings and other vehicles and disconnect both battery cables, GM said.

The vans cannot be rented by fleet customers or sold by dealers until a fix is found, GM said. It did not give any indication as to when it would determine a fix for the issue.

GM said relatively few of the vans had gone to retail customers and about 1,300 had gone to fleet customers when it issued the order to stop their sale and production.

Light duty Express and Savana vans use a different alternator and were not under a production halt, GM said.

GM said the last eight digits of the vehicle identification numbers for the heavy duty Express 2500 and 3500 series vans recalled are A1129327 through A1142523. The GMC Savana 2500 and 3500 series ID numbers run from A1128784 through A1901915.

About 1,400 AC Delco replacement alternators are also being recalled and may have been installed in vehicles in February and March, GM said. The recalled replacement alternators are numbered 15200110, 15288861, 15263859 and 15847291, GM said.  

GM said those replacement heavy duty alternators could have been used in 2005 to 2010 model year Express or Savana heavy duty vans or other 2005 to 2009 GM trucks or SUVs.