The federal government is turning up pressure on an airbag parts supplier to recall up to 67 million airbag inflators that could be deadly. But the company continues to resist.
If the issue sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking of the Takata airbag recall. This issue is similar but not related.
Government Believes There’s a Problem With Millions of Airbag Inflators
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into airbag inflators manufactured by Tennesse-based ARC Automotive. Officials believe they may be prone to exploding, sending fragments of hot metal flying into a car’s cabin like shrapnel.
An airbag inflator makes an airbag work. It’s a small capsule containing chemicals that combine to create a rapidly-expanding gas in an accident, inflating an airbag in fractions of a second.
Those gases are supposed to squirt out of a nozzle to fill the airbag. But NHTSA believes that a possible welding defect in some ARC Automotive inflators may leave the nozzle blocked. That could cause the metal capsule to explode under pressure.
This Resembles Another High-Profile Recall
The issue resembles the largest recall in automotive history, in which dozens of carmakers recalled more than 67 million cars because of exploding airbag inflators manufactured by the now-closed Takata company.
Takata inflators are still claiming lives – NHTSA estimates that 17 million may still be on American roads, and at least four Americans died in related accidents last year alone.
ARC Automotive Disputes the Government’s Claim
The Associated Press reports, “ARC maintains that no safety defect exists, that NHTSA’s demand is based on a hypothesis rather than technical conclusions.” The company also claims that recalls are the responsibility of automakers, not parts suppliers.
NHTSA today stepped up pressure on the company, sending a “special order” demanding answers to a series of questions about the parts and threatening fines if company officers don’t answer them under oath.
The letter also points out that ARC Automotive changed its manufacturing process in 2018 and demands to know why the change was made if it didn’t address a problem.
The letter, the AP says, sets up “a possible court fight” with the company.
At Least One Automaker Already Replacing the Parts
In an eerie coincidence, NHTSA says there may be about 67 million cars on the road with potentially deadly airbag inflators from ARC Automotive – roughly the same figure as the Takata recall.
The Associated Press reports, “NHTSA argues that the recall is justified because two people have been killed in the United States and Canada and at least seven others injured by ARC inflators.”
NHTSA has asked ARC Automotive to recall the parts. The company, so far, has refused.
But automakers may go ahead and replace the parts anyway. General Motors earlier this month began replacing ARC Automotive inflators in about 1 million SUVs.
Unfortunately, there is virtually no way for drivers to determine whether their car contains an ARC Automotive inflator. NHTSA’s actions, calling attention to the risk, may prompt other automakers to follow GM’s lead and replace the parts even if ARC Automotive insists they aren’t dangerous.
