Federal auto safety regulators are one step closer to forcing the recall of 52 million airbag inflators they say are unsafe because they could rupture, hurling shrapnel and injuring or killing people.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating the inflators, manufactured by ARC Automotive and Delphi Automotive Systems, since 2015 after reports of ruptures.
The agency held a public meeting on Thursday on its recommendation to recall the inflators, a required step before seeking a court-ordered recall. A final decision is expected in December.
The looming court fight comes as the Tennessee-based company has refused to issue a full-scale recall. The NHTSA asked ARC in May to recall inflators in driver and passenger front air bags, but the company has resisted. It maintains that their inflators are not defected and pushed back on the agency’s demands during Thursday's meeting.
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“No vehicle manufacturer utilizing these inflators has determined that a systemic safety related defect exists that would warrant a recall of the entire inflator population,” said Steve Gold, vice president of product integrity at ARC.
Gold said each rupture was an “isolated incident” and questioned the agency’s data.
The issue involves a byproduct from welding during manufacturing that the NHTSA contends can clog a vent inside the inflator canister that is designed to let gas escape to quickly fill air bags in a crash. In the defective products, pressure can build up to the point where the canister blows apart, sending shrapnel or metal fragments from the inflator into the passenger compartment.
And while it's not clear how many manufacturers and vehicle models are impacted by the ARC inflators, several car companies have conducted smaller recalls of inflators in light of the NHTSA's investigation.
Last month, the NHTSA reported they were aware of seven ARC inflators rupturing in the U.S. since 2014, with one incident occurring at recently as March 22, and at least two others outside the country. Two of those ruptures resulted in deaths, including a Michigan mother who was killed when her 2015 Chevrolet Traverse SUV was involved in a minor crash in 2021.
“An inflator that explosively ruptures, propelling metal fragments at high velocity into an occupied passenger compartment of a motor vehicle — and into the occupants themselves — cannot simply be dismissed as a normal manufacturing anomaly, with vehicle owners left uninformed yet bearing the risk of the peril they and their occupants face,” the agency wrote.
NHTSA said it estimates the chance of a rupture in future crashes is one in 370,000.
The latest airbag issues comes a few years after a similar investigation forced Takata to recall 67 million airbags in 2014. In that case, 27 people died and more than 400 others were injured by exploding airbag inflators.
