U.S. Regulators Intensify Probe of Another Air-Bag Maker
August 04 2016 - 04:20PM
Dow Jones News
U.S. car-safety regulators intensified a probe of a lesser-known
air-bag manufacturer after a fatal rupture in Canada, drawing
broader scrutiny to the devices in the wake of record recalls of
vehicles with Takata Corp. equipment with similar problems.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday
upgraded an investigation of ARC Automotive Inc. to a so-called
engineering analysis after one of the Tennessee company's air bags
ruptured in July and killed a driver in Newfoundland and Labrador,
Canada, the agency said. Such probes are upgraded from initial
preliminary evaluations when investigators determine potentially
serious safety risks exist.
The driver of a 2009 Hyundai Elantra died when the air bag
deployed in a collision, the agency said, noting the rupture
mirrored those in two earlier U.S. incidents involving ARC
equipment. The agency said it would gather more information and
direct testing of air-bag inflaters to determine the cause of the
ruptures.
Injuries were suffered in two incidents involving older Fiat
Chrysler Automobiles NV and Kia Motors Corp. vehicles,
respectively, that prompted regulators to start a preliminary
evaluation roughly a year ago. Regulators subsequently found
General Motors Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. used similar air bags, but
didn't uncover additional ruptures. In all, regulators found eight
million potentially affected air bags installed in cars sold in the
U.S. with production ending in September 2004.
The air-bag inflater involved in the fatal rupture was
manufactured in China in 2008, the agency said, while those
involved in earlier incidents that caused injuries in the U.S. were
made in Knoxville, Tenn., in 2004 or earlier.
ARC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The investigation adds to concerns surrounding air bags, coming
on the heels of separate record recalls of nearly 70 million
devices manufactured by Japanese supplier Takata in the U.S. alone.
Those air bags risk rupturing and spraying shrapnel in vehicle
cabins, a defect linked to numerous deaths and injuries
globally.
Regulators said ARC air bags have "significant design
differences" from those made by Takata, including hermetically
sealed steel protecting inflaters from outside moisture or other
atmospheric conditions.
Officials have pointed to the age of air bags and prolonged
exposure to heat and moisture as causes for Takata air-bag
ruptures. Those factors can destabilize ammonium-nitrate
propellants, leading to explosions.
ARC air-bag inflaters feature a hybrid design using
high-pressure gas and a small amount of ammonium nitrate,
regulators said. "The small amount of ammonium nitrate in the ARC
inflaters is stored within a hermetically sealed chamber of inert
gas and the moisture penetration that is a key component of the
root cause of the Takata ruptures is not a factor in this
investigation," a NHTSA spokesman said in a statement.
The agency is working closely with Transport Canada on the
probe, it said.
Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 04, 2016 16:05 ET (20:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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