Three major automakers
and a supplier are facing a class-action lawsuit
for knowingly selling vehicles with potentially explosive air bag inflators. ARC Automotive Inc. of Tennessee made defective inflators and sold them to airbag manufacturers, which in turn sold those airbags to General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen.
At least two deaths and four injuries are linked to the explosions. The five plaintiffs in the case own vehicles with ARC inflators and argue that the defective airbag parts were not disclosed when they purchased their vehicles. Jerry
dove in to find out more about the class action lawsuit and the issue at the root of the problem. ARC Automotive is under investigation yet again
It's not the first time ARC Automotive has had a regulatory microscope looming over its airbag inflators. According to the lawsuit, filed May 24 in a California U.S. district court, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating ARC inflators for almost a decade.
The agency estimates that there are 51 million vehicles with ARC inflators on the road—meaning between 10% and 20% of all passenger vehicles on the road are affected.
"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating ARC’s toroidal stored gas hybrid inflators," the suit reads. It continues:
"ARC is aware that its Defective Inflators are installed in millions of vehicles. However, ARC has concealed the defect from the public; namely, that its inflators contain a propellant made from volatile and unstable ammonium nitrate. ARC has not recalled any of the Defective Inflators. The airbag module manufacturers are also aware that ARC’s inflators contain a propellant made from volatile and unstable ammonium nitrate but have concealed the defect from the public."
MORE: How Safe Is Your Car? Here Are Some Quick Ways to Check
What's wrong with the inflators?
The airbag inflators can explode due to the manufacturer's use of a dangerous propellant in its stored gas hybrid inflators. ARC inflators involved in this class action suit use phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate, a volatile and unstable chemical that can over-pressurized during airbag deployment, which can result in the explosion of the inflator's metal canister.
The canister can then expel shrapnel into the vehicle's cabin, causing serious injury or death. In short, it's like driving with a grenade in your steering wheel or dashboard that could go off during a crash.
Why is this class action lawsuit a big deal?
An explosive airbag inflator could kill you—and you might not even be able to find it if you wanted to remove it. The truth is most drivers can't tell what kind of inflator comes installed with their vehicle.
Even after disassembling the steering wheel to expose the inflator, the parts might only have the automaker's or airbag manufacturer's markings, not ARC's branding.
Why are Ford, GM, and Volkswagen involved in this class action lawsuit?
The class-action suit alleges
that ARC knew about the dangers of ammonium nitrate but still sold defective inflators to airbag manufacturers, which then sold them to automakers. The suit goes on to allege that while GM issued recalls
related to rupturing ARC inflators—one instance fatal—it didn't recall enough of the millions of vehicles with defective inflators installed. Instead, the suit states
, the automaker recalled a small subset of vehicles containing inflators from the same lot as the ruptured inflators. The suit makes similar allegations against Ford for failing to recall enough of its affected vehicles—which could number in the tens of thousands—after finding a ruptured inflator during testing. It also named Volkswagen as a defendant for knowingly selling vehicles with the defective inflators.
Am I experiencing deja vu?
Nope. Phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate airbag inflators were at the center of another massive airbag recall just a few years ago.
NHTSA forced the recall of approximately 67 million Takata airbags
due to their tendency to sometimes explode when deployed after being exposed to high heat and humidity, which could cause serious or sometimes fatal injuries. This led to the recall of tens of millions of vehicles in model years spanning from the ‘90s to just a few years ago. Of these 67 million affected vehicles, about 50 million have been repaired as of January 2021. Since 2009, 19 deaths in the U.S. have been linked to ruptured Takata airbag inflators, with 16 of those in Honda vehicles alone.
How do I know if my vehicle is recalled?
If you're in the U.S., pay attention to recall alerts from NHTSA to see if your vehicle is affected in the near future. You can find the agency's recall lookup tool here
. You can also report safety problems
on your vehicle to bring to the agency's attention. MORE: NHTSA Released a User-Friendly Recall Lookup Dashboard
4.7
