A Tennessee airbag component manufacturer has refused to recall 67 million devices that could explode in a crash and hurl shrapnel at motorists.
The faulty airbags are used in several GM cars. They have already killed two people and injured seven in the US and Canada, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Knoxville-based ARC Automotive could now be heading for a legal battle with US auto safety regulators after denying a request to recall the potentially dangerous airbag inflators.
The recall would affect a large portion of the 284 million vehicles now on US roads, but the percentage is difficult to determine. Some have ARC inflators for both the driver and front passenger.
The 67 million airbag inflators that NHTSA plans to recall were all produced in the 18-year period leading up to January 2018, when ARC installed equipment to help inspect inflators, the company said.
A Tennessee air bag manufacturer has refused to recall 67 million devices that could explode in a crash and hurl shrapnel at motorists.
The faulty airbags in which the parts are used have been fitted to several GM cars and have already killed two people
The airbags that were recalled were made by airbag manufacturer Takata, a now-bankrupt Japanese manufacturer, but ARC manufactured an inflation component.
In a letter posted Friday, the agency told ARC that after an eight-year investigation, it has provisionally concluded that the ARC driver and passenger inflators have a safety defect.
“Airbag inflators that project metal fragments into vehicle occupants, rather than properly inflating the attached airbag, create an unreasonable risk of death and injury,” said Stephen Ridella, director of NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation, wrote in a letter to ARC.
But ARC replied that there is no defect in the inflators and that any problems are related to isolated manufacturing issues.
“We disagree with NHTSA’s new sweeping request when extensive field testing has failed to find an inherent defect,” ARC said in a statement Friday night.
The next step in the process is for NHTSA to schedule a public hearing. The FBI could then take the company to court to force a recall.
On Friday, NHTSA posted documents showing General Motors is recalling nearly 1 million vehicles equipped with ARC inflators. The recall affects certain 2014 to 2017 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia SUVs.
The auto company’s recall is separate from the inflator recall that NHTSA has requested ARC to conduct.
The automaker says an explosion from an inflator “could cause sharp metal fragments to strike the driver or other occupants, causing serious injury or death.”
Owners will be notified by letter starting June 25, but no resolution is available yet. They will receive another letter when one is ready.
GM says it will offer “courtesy transportation” on a case-by-case basis to owners fearful of driving vehicles that are part of the recall.
The company said it is issuing the recall, which expands on previous actions, “out of an abundance of caution and with the safety of our customers as our top priority.”
The airbags being recalled originally came from airbag manufacturer Takata, a now-bankrupt Japanese manufacturer
One of the two deaths was a mother of 10 who died in what appeared to be an otherwise minor crash in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the summer of 2021. Police reports indicate that a metal inflator fragment struck her neck in a crash involving a Chevrolet from 2015. Traverse SUV.
At least a dozen automakers are using the reportedly faulty inflators, including Volkswagen, Ford, BMW and GM, NHTSA said.
The agency claims welding waste from the manufacturing process can block an “exit port” for gas released to fill the airbag in a crash.
Any blockage could cause pressure to build in the inflator, blowing it apart and throwing metal fragments, according to Rilla’s letter.
But in a response to Ridella of May 11 ARC Vice President of Product Integrity Steve Gold wrote that NHTSA’s position is not based on an objective engineering or technical conclusion about a defect, but rather on conclusive statements regarding the supposed plugging of the inflator orifice by “weld slag”.
He wrote that none of the seven inflationary ruptures in the US have been determined to be caused by weld residue. population.’
Gold also writes that manufacturers should issue recalls, not equipment manufacturers like ARC. NHTSA’s recall, he wrote, exceeds the agency’s legal authority.
Stephanie Erdman testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Takata airbag malfunctions in Washington DC in November 2014
ARC Vice President of Product Integrity Steve Gold said NHTSA’s position is not based on any objective engineering or technical conclusion
In a federal lawsuit filed last year, plaintiffs alleged that ARC’s inflators use ammonium nitrate as a secondary propellant to inflate the airbags.
The propellant is pressed into tablets that can expand and develop microscopic holes when exposed to moisture.
Degraded tablets have a larger surface area, causing them to burn too quickly and cause too large an explosion, the lawsuit said.
The explosion could blow apart a metal canister containing the chemical, sending shards of metal into the cabin. Ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizers and as a cheap explosive, is so dangerous that it can burn too quickly even without moisture, the lawsuit said.
Prosecutors allege ARC inflators have blown apart seven times on U.S. roads and two more times during ARC testing. There have been five limited recalls of the inflators to date, affecting approximately 5,000 vehicles in total, including three recalls by GM.