General Motors said today it is recalling 121,000 Cadillac ATS sedans because the rear-window defroster can overheat and potentially catch fire.
The automaker said it is aware of four fires related to the defect, but not of any crashes, injuries or deaths.
GM said rear-window defrosters on model year 2013-16 ATS cars can overheat because of “weak terminal connectivity in the coil antenna module,” which powers the defroster. It can then catch fire in the driver’s side rear pillar after continuous use.
GM said dealers will update the climate control software in the affected sedans to remove a feature that turns the defroster on automatically. ATS drivers will still be able to turn it on manually. Vehicles produced after Sept. 2 do not need a repair.
The recall includes about 97,000 ATS cars in the U.S. The remaining 24,000 recalled vehicles are from outside the country, including Canada and Mexico.
This is not the first recall affected 2013-16 model ATS cars. In July, GM recalled 82,620 of the luxury sedans because of an issue with the power sunroof. That came after a recall of 67,000 ATS cars in February for the same issue.
The ATS has been Cadillac’s second-most popular model year-to-date after the SRX crossover SUV, but sales of the car dropped 18 percent to 16,544 units through August. GM said last week it sold 2,449 of the sedans in August, a decrease of 13 percent year over year.
