Another Massive Airbag Recall Peers Over the Horizon

Just when it looked like the Takata airbag inflator recall was finally wrapping up, U.S. safety regulators have indicated that 52 million inflators made by ARC have likewise been placed under consideration for recall. The circumstances are unpleasantly familiar. Like the Takata units that ran the risk of spraying cabin occupants with deadly shrapnel during a crash, the ARC inflators may also pose a serious risk to those they’re supposed to save.

Based on a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, two people are already believed to have lost their lives due to the presumed defect. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted a meeting this week to determine the severity of the issue and how best to progress.

It seems likely that a recall will be conducted and probably a huge one. The NHTSA already issued a letter to ARC in April demanding it recall defective inflators. However, the agency still needs to decide which vehicles will be impacted — something that will be incredibly daunting considering the scope of the investigation.

From WSJ:

ARC has refused the regulatory request, resulting in NHTSA having to take the unusual step of scheduling a hearing, which is necessary if it wants to formally order a recall. The company will make a brief statement at the meeting, a lawyer for ARC said.

The auto supplier has said extensive field tests show no defect and the air-bag ruptures that have occurred are few and isolated.

Aside from GM, there are 11 other automakers that have the ARC air-bag inflators covered by NHTSA’s action, including Ford Motor, Volkswagen, Toyota Motor and Hyundai Motor.

Some of the known air-bag explosions have occurred in GM vehicles with one resulting in a fatality and others in injuries.

GM so far has done five recalls over a span of six years on vehicles that have the ARC-made air bags.

The latest one was earlier this year, when it recalled nearly one million Chevrolet and Buick SUVs, after a Michigan woman was injured in a crash in March.

It’s something GM has been working on. But it may have installed some 20 million vehicles with defective airbag units over the years. Other brands will find themselves in a similarly difficult situation, as the ARC inflators started being manufactured in 2000 and continued through 2018. Just determining every model that may contain one will be a challenge in itself.

The good news is that the issue turning into something fatal isn’t terribly likely. Based on an investigation that started eight years ago, the NHTSA believes that only one out of every 370,000 airbag inflators will actually rupture in a manner that might endanger someone. But the bad news is that it’s still going to require a costly recall. Takata set the industry back by billions of dollars and the pending ARC recall is poised to do the same.

[Image: General Motors]

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