A Tennessee company is refusing a U.S. request to recall 67 million air bag inflators

[Jilly_in_VA]

A Tennessee company could be heading for a legal battle with U.S. auto safety regulators after refusing a request that millions of potentially dangerous air bag inflators be recalled.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding that ARC Automotive Inc. of Knoxville recall 67 million inflators in the U.S. because they could explode and hurl shrapnel. At least two people have been killed in the U.S. and Canada, and seven others have been hurt as a result of defective ARC inflators, the agency said.

The recall would cover a large portion of the 284 million vehicles now on U.S. roads, but the percentage is difficult to determine. Some have ARC inflators for both the driver and front passenger.

In a letter posted Friday, the agency told ARC that it has tentatively concluded after an eight-year investigation that ARC front driver and passenger inflators have a safety defect.

"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," Stephen Ridella, director of NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, wrote in a letter to ARC.

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/12/1175984778/tennessee-company-refuses-recall-air-bags

[LonePirate]

1. The company will go bankrupt if it has to handle the recall so they are fighting it.

Expect the company to change ownership and file bankruptcy if the government wins the court case.

[captain queeg]

2. "Request" vs "demand", the language changed as you read thru it. Nt

[Chainfire]

3. We asked for an air bag and got a hand grenade.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. I wonder if execs at that company laughed when Takata was forced to recall millions of airbags.

[MichMan]

5. "Gold also writes that manufacturers must do recalls, not equipment manufacturers like ARC."

I would agree that statement seems correct. Auto manufacturers are able to link the use of components to specific VIN numbers in order to contact owners. A supplier like ARC only knows that they shipped x number of inflators to the auto manufacturers, not which specific cars they may have been installed on.

I don't recall ever seeing a recall where a sub supplier was the one tasked with initiating it. Perhaps the Firestone tire recall, however given that tires are a wear item and generally not replaced at a car dealer, it is a lot different. Tire stores are required to keep records of tire serial numbers and whom they were sold to.