Stellar Snippets
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discussed the possibility of recalling airbags by ARC Automotive and Delphi Automotive Systems.
There have been seven reported airbag explosion cases due to crashes in the U.S., Canada, and Turkey, causing injuries and even death in two cases.
The inflators in the airbags are being used by millions of vehicles from 11 different manufacturers.
Airbags can explode if the inflators in them are blocked by small pieces of debris that prevent the release of gases due to a chemical reaction.
The chemical reaction is set off by an electric charge after a dangerous impact is detected, and the explosion could cause metal bits to fly at occupants.
The NHTSA began a preliminary investigation in 2015 into airbags made between 2000 and 2018. In May 2023, General Motors recalled 1 million vehicles.
ARC thinks a recall of this scale is unnecessary since these accidents, though serious, were "isolated incidents" within the expected failure rates.
NHTSA estimates that one in 370,000 airbag deployments could rupture, but the only way to identify a defective bag is if it deploys.