— Exploding air bag inflators are still affecting automakers, vehicles, occupants and safety regulators who are trying to determine whether millions of inflators and vehicles should be recalled.
The entire ordeal involves ARC Automotive, Delphi Automotive and a federal safety investigation launched in 2015 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The investigation was upgraded in 2016 after a Canadian woman died when a 2009 Hyundai Elantra ARC airbag inflator ruptured.
NHTSA estimates there are more than 50 million suspect air bag inflators in vehicles produced by 13 automakers.
Safety regulators said in 2023 that a recall should be considered due to the dangers posed by the inflators. This has caused concern among airbag inflator manufacturers and automakers.
GM did announce a recall of about 1 million vehicles in May 2023, but ARC automatically rejected any talk of a recall.
All companies agree that the chance of an inflator exploding is so small that a time-consuming and expensive recall is not necessary. NHTSA believes the affected vehicles were manufactured during the 18-year period.
Although NHTSA previously concluded that the recall was necessary due to the risk of death and injury, the agency now says it will take more time to investigate the engineering details.
NHTSA learns of at least seven crashes involving ruptured air bag inflators in the U.S.
But to show how confused investigators were about the matter, the inflators were made at different times at three different manufacturing plants.
The seven exploding airbag inflators also include single-stage and dual-stage inflators that are installed in the airbag modules by four different module suppliers.
Additionally, ruptured ARC inflators were used in vehicles from four different automakers.
Airbag inflator explosion incident
2002 Chrysler Town & Country
Ohio / January 29, 2009
Driver seriously injured
2004 Kia Optima
New Mexico / April 8, 2014
The driver suffered facial and leg injuries
2010 Chevrolet Malibu
Pennsylvania / September 22, 2017
Driver suffered injuries to face and head
2015 Chevrolet Traverse
Michigan / August 15, 2021
driver killed
2015 Chevrolet Traverse
Kentucky / October 20, 2021
Driver’s face injured
2016 Audi A3 e-Tron
California / December 18, 2021
The passenger airbag exploded, injuring the driver and passenger
2017 Chevrolet Traverse
Michigan / March 22, 2023
Driver’s face injured
Air bag inflator explosions (outside the United States)
At least two ARC air bag inflators exploded outside the U.S., according to NHTSA
2009 Hyundai Elantra
Canada / July 11, 2016
driver killed
2015 Volkswagen Golf
Türkiye / October 16, 2017
not injured
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