U.S. demands recall of 67 million air bag inflators

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) demanded the recall of 67 million air bag inflators because it believes there is a safety defect, but auto supplier ARC Automotive Inc rejected the U.S. regulator’s request, documents released on Friday show.

The auto safety agency said the inflators pose an unreasonable risk of death or injury.

Even as ruptures mount, “ARC has not made a defect determination that would require a recall of this population,” NHTSA said in its demand letter to the Tennessee-based company. “Air bag inflators that project metal fragments into vehicle occupants, rather than properly inflating the attached air bag, create an unreasonable risk of death and injury.”

ARC air bag inflators are in General Motors, Chrysler-parent Stellantis, BMW, Hyundai Motor, Kia and other vehicles. GM on Friday agreed to recall nearly 1 million vehicles with ARC air bag inflators after a rupture in March resulted in facial injuries to a driver.

ARC rejected NHTSA’s tentative conclusion that a defect exists saying it is based upon seven field ruptures in the United States. NHTSA “then asks ARC to prove a negative – that the 67 million inflators in this population are not defective” that were produced over 18 years. The company said it will continue to work with NHTSA and automakers to evaluate ruptures.

NHTSA in 2016 upgraded a probe of more than 8 million air bag inflators made by ARC after a driver was killed in Canada in a Hyundai vehicle and has been investigating more than seven years.

NHTSA initially opened an investigation in July 2015 following two reported injuries.

Delphi, acquired by Autoliv ALV.N, manufactured approximately 11 million of the inflators under a licensing agreement with ARC, which manufactured the remainder of the inflators.

ARC noted there have been several testing programs…