Investigators in the USA and Canada are looking into a crash in the Canadian province of Newfoundland in which a driver was killed by an exploding air bag inflator made by ARC Automotive Inc. of Knoxville, Tenn.
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According to NHTSA, the Elantra in the Newfoundland crash had an ARC inflator that was made in China, but it’s unknown whether any of the same inflators were used in other USA vehicles. The agency said it will focus on determining the entire population of ARC inflators in the US and whether any inflators made in China were sold in the U.S. The inflators also are in older models made by Kia, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, the agency said.
The ruptured inflator on the 2009 Hyundai Elantra sent metal fragments into the passenger cabin, killing the driver in what officials described as a low-speed collision.
Canada death widens probe into defective ARC airbagsOTTAWA: An investigation into faulty airbags that started last month in the United States expanded Thursday as Canadian authorities launched a probe after a death resulting from a ruptured inflator.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Thursday it is upgrading a probe of more than 8 million air bag inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc after a driver was killed in Canada when an inflator ruptured in a Hyundai vehicle last month.
The agency said it was also notified in 2015 of a lawsuit that was filed by the driver of a 2004 Kia Optima that alleged to have experienced a driver side inflator rupture. NHTSA’s Canadian counterpart, Transport Canada, said ARC is cooperating with its investigation. The automaker said it’s cooperating with investigators.
ARC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The agency said it was in communication with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is probing the US cases.
Hyundai said the 2009 Elantra in the United States has a two-stage air bag inflator, not a single-stage one like the Canadian version.
The air bag recall is likely to draw parallels to NHTSA’s high profile call back of inflators that were made by Japanese manufacturer Takata that were found to rupture in humid climates.
The upgrade comes as regulators are intensely scrutinizing air bag inflators following a series of fatalities in vehicles with Takata Corp inflators.
ARC uses a small amount of ammonium nitrate to ignite another chemical that inflates airbags, and authorities say they are not looking at ammonium nitrate as the cause.
The motorist was driving a 2009 Hyundai Elantra when the bag exploded.
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