In the United States, more than 33 million individuals operate vehicles with an airbag inflator that, in extremely rare circumstances, might burst and eject shards during a collision. According to the Associated Press, only a small number of them are aware of it.
A dispute between federal safety regulators and a manufacturer of airbag parts makes it even less likely that they will learn anything very soon.
The manufacturer, ARC Automotive of Knoxville, Tennessee, has been ordered to recall 67 million inflators because they have the potential to blow apart a metal canister and release shrapnel by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). ARC, however, is refusing to do so, possibly by establishing a agency.
The NHTSA asserts that the recall is significant because ARC’s inflators have resulted in two fatalities and at least seven injuries in both the US and Canada. The 2009-starting explosions are still continuing on now.
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The NHTSA made a provisional determination that the inflators are defective after eight years of monitoring. The inflators date from at least the 2002 model year to January 2018, when ARC installed technology on its production lines to look for any safety hazards, according to the information released by the government.
The Associated Press reported that Marlene Beaudoin, a 40-year-old Upper Peninsula resident and mother of 10 children, was killed when metal shards struck her 2015 Chevrolet Traverse SUV.
What is said in the ARC?
According to ARC, there is no safety defect, the NHTSA lacks the authority to order a component manufacturer to conduct recalls, which ARC asserts are the responsibility of automakers, and the agency’s demand is based on theory rather than technical results.
In a letter to the NHTSA, ARC claimed that no automaker had found an issue that affected all 67 million inflators and that the cause of inflator ruptures was still unknown.
The letter stated that “ARC believes they were caused by sporadic, ‘one-off’ manufacturing anomalies that were appropriately addressed by vehicle manufacturers through lot-specific recalls.”
NHTSA stated that it can request a recall from a components manufacturer that serves several automakers and that both ARC and automakers are accountable for recalls.
A public hearing will be followed by a final determination by the NHTSA regarding whether the inflators are defective. For ARC to get a recall order, court action could be necessary. The NHTSA won’t say if or when any of this would happen.
Owners of vehicles from at least a dozen different manufacturers, including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Ford, Toyota, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Hyundai, and Kia, are forced to speculate as to whether or not their cars have ARC driver or front passenger inflators. (Some autos have ARC inflators on both sides.)
Due to the fact that ARC sells inflators that are incorporated into airbags made by other manufacturers, there is no simple way for automobile owners to determine whether their inflators are made by ARC. A detailed list of the affected vehicles has not been released by the NHTSA, the ARC, or the manufacturers.
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