The United States Department of Transportation announced on Tuesday (September 5) that 52 million airbag inflators manufactured by ARC Automotive and Delphi Automotive should be recalled because they might burst and send harmful metal pieces flying. According to Reuters, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated that airbag inflators that rupture when commanded to deploy are defective because they both fail to protect vehicle occupants as they should and pose an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death.
The NHTSA requested a voluntary recall in May, but ARC denied it. In a rare attempt to force a recall, the agency issued an initial ruling on Tuesday and scheduled a public meeting for October 5.
Which automobiles have used airbag inflators?
According to Reuters, the inflators that the NHTSA is trying to recall were used in vehicles manufactured by 12 automakers from 2000 to early 2018, including General Motors, Ford, Tesla, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen.
Initially, the NHTSA said that 67 million airbag inflators were unsafe. But on Tuesday, it adjusted this estimate to account for “over-inclusive responses reported to the agency by certain manufacturers over the course of the investigation.”
If the recall is successful, it will be one of the largest on record, according to Reuters.
The ARC rejected the NHTSA’s judgment that there was a fault in May. Meanwhile, ARC reported that in January 2018, it completed the installation of detectors on inflator manufacturing lines used to identify excesses of weld slag, a hardened result of welding, or other debris.
The NHTSA also stated that it was not aware of any problems with ARC inflators manufactured after the devices were installed. NHTSA said it “believes that the evidence does identify a likely cause” and added that ARC’s argument on not finding a root cause “is not a reason for delaying a recall. (https://hoyoskitchen.com/) ”
The government stated that it was aware of seven confirmed inflator ruptures in the vehicles it seeks to recall in the United States, resulting in seven injuries and one fatality.