DETROIT– U.S. auto safety regulators say they stand by the conclusion that more than 50 million airbag inflators are dangerous and should not be in use, taking another step towards a massive recall.
Wednesday’s decision by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration involves inflators manufactured by ARC Automotive Inc. and another parts manufacturer. This is despite opposition from automakers.
The inflators of around 49 million vehicles from 13 manufacturers can explode and throw shrapnel in drivers and passengers.
The agency said inflators are responsible for at least seven injuries and two deaths in the United States and Canada since 2009.
NHTSA said seven of the inflators exploded in the field in the U.S., each showing evidence of insufficient welds or too much pressure in a container designed to contain the explosion and inflate airbags in the event of a crash.
Additionally, the agency said 23 of the inflators ruptured in tests with causes common to inflators that exploded in the field. Additionally, four inflators ruptured outside the US, killing at least one person, the agency said.
“Certainly, the overwhelming majority of the inflators in question will not rupture upon deployment,” NHSTA wrote. “However, based on the evidence linking previous ruptures to the same friction stir welding process, all of the inflators in question are at risk of rupture.”
Several automakers argued in public comments that NHTSA did not establish a safety defect and that none of the millions of inflators in their vehicles had ruptured.
But NHTSA said the only way to know which of the ARC-designed inflators will explode is to deploy them in the event of an accident. Federal motor vehicle safety law “does not allow such a defect to go unnoticed,” the agency said.
The agency will take comments again for 30 days and then use them to make a final decision on whether to proceed with the massive recall. The government could end up suing ARC in an effort to force a recall.
A message was left Wednesday seeking comment from the ARC of Knoxville.
Regulators asked ARC in April 2023 to recall the inflators, but the company refused to issue a large-scale recall, setting the stage for a possible legal fight.
The NHTSA held a public hearing on the dispute last October, where it appeared ready to pursue the recall due to a manufacturing fault that could send metal shrapnel through the interior of a car.
At the heart of the issue is the metal inflator container inside the airbag device. The government claims that a crucial failure could cause this container to “rupture” on impact. Instead of releasing pressurized gas to inflate the air bag, the container essentially explodes, sending metal shrapnel into the vehicle at head height.
The NHTSA says welding byproducts during manufacturing can obstruct a vent in the canister that is designed to allow gas to escape to quickly fill the airbags. In defective products, the pressure can increase to the point that the container explodes.
Shrapnel injuries can be horrific, and inflators pose an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death to drivers and passengers, the agency said.
But ARC and many automakers oppose a recall, with several manufacturers saying the problem happens so rarely that the NHTSA has not established that a safety defect exists.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a unit of Stellantis, for example, wrote in comments that there has never been an inflator rupture in an FCA vehicle that matches NHTSA’s theory about why inflators are faulty. The company said it has 4.9 million older vehicles on the road with inflators for drivers and passengers manufactured by ARC.
An inflator in a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country minivan exploded in 2009, but ARC determined it had a unique cause not found in other ruptures, FCA wrote. “In the 14 years following this event, there have been no further incidents on an FCA vehicle in the US,” the company wrote.
Vehicles from BMW, Stellantis, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Jaguar-Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mercedes, Porsche, Tesla, Toyota and Volkswagen have inflators manufactured by ARC or parts supplier Delphi. A complete list of vehicles with inflators has not been released. Delphi has manufactured approximately 11 million inflators under license from ARC.
Automakers have issued smaller recalls of ARC inflators over the years, with GM leading the way on more than 1 million vehicles. The smaller recalls, NHTSA said, were made based on the premise that there was a manufacturing problem over a short period of time at a particular factory.
But NHTSA said its investigation showed that ruptures occurred in inflators manufactured in different time periods, factories and production lines, “thus warranting a broader recall.”
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
