Canada plays wait-and-see as US battles to recall 57 million airbag inflators – National
As the United States calls for a broad recall of a potentially defective airbag component, Transport Canada says it is monitoring the situation and expects to be notified if it is recalled elsewhere, but did not say that he would take action himself.
The problem concerns airbag inflators from the American company ARC Automotive. Its airbag inflators have resulted in seven incidents in the United States since 2009 and one in Canada, with four incidents since 2021, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The agency issued a report on Tuesday saying that inflators made before 2018 are defective and that it is expected to hold a public meeting in early October that the CRA could attend. NHTSA suggests that up to 52 million inflators should be recalled.
“Transport Canada will not hesitate to take action to protect the safety of Canadians,” the agency said in a statement to PKBNEWS on Thursday.
“Transport Canada expects companies to issue a safety defect notice in Canada for substantially similar vehicles and components that are recalled in other countries, including any ARC airbag inflator recalls.
“We are monitoring the situation here in Canada and in other countries.”
Transport Canada said it and NHTSA have been collaborating on the issue since 2016.
ARC’s airbag is linked to at least one fatality in Canada, when in 2016 the driver’s side airbag inflator ruptured in a 2009 Hyundai Elantra, resulting in the death of the driver.
In May, General Motors recalled 42,000 SUVs in Canada from model years 2014 to 2017 due to ARC inflators. This is in addition to the recall of nearly one million cars in the United States for the same reason.
The other incidents date back to 2009 and involve the rupture of the airbag inflator, resulting in injuries and another death in the United States.
Twelve automakers included the ARC airbags under investigation, including BMW, Kia, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla and Volkswagen, according to NHTSA.
NHTSA found that ARC inflators could block where the airbag deploys, which could cause the airbag to overpressurize and rupture, as well as metal fragments ‘forcefully propelled into the pa*senger compartment. “.
“This event may result in injury or even death to vehicle occupants in what would otherwise be normal and safe airbag deployment,” NHTSA said in its report.
The ARC took action to fix the problem in 2018, and no known inflator ruptures occurred with the product produced afterward, NHTSA said, but 52 million inflators intended for use in vehicles were sold before that date.
When NHTSA requested a recall from ARC in April, the company argued that there was insufficient evidence of a safety defect and said the seven incidents in the United States were “outages occasional or isolated events that are an inevitable part of any ma*s manufacturing process,” according to the agency.
The company, which was acquired in 2016 by Chinese property developer Yinyi Group, said the root cause of the ruptures was unconfirmed and the report said it described the ruptured inflators as manufacturing anomalies or as causing part of normal activity.
ARC did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Transport Canada said in its statement that serious or fatal injuries from airbags are extremely rare and it is aware of the only incident of an ARC inflator rupture in Canada.
The Canadian agency had previously said in August that around 6.6 million vehicles were “unsafe” but still on the road, based on a June a**lysis. This is because one in five out of 33.3 million vehicles registered since 2019 have outstanding recalls.
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