More than 33 million people in the United States are driving vehicles that contain a potentially deadly threat: Airbag inflators that in rare cases can explode in a collision and spew shrapnel.
And because of a dispute between federal safety regulators and an airbag parts manufacturer, they aren't likely to find out anytime soon.
One of those who died was Marlene Beaudoin, a 40-year-old mother of 10 from Michigan's Upper Peninsula who was struck by metal fragments when her 2015 Chevrolet Traverse SUV was involved in a minor crash in 2021. She and four of her sons had been on their way to get ice cream. The sons were not hurt.
The next step is for the NHTSA to issue a final ruling on whether the inflators are defective, then hold a public hearing. It potentially could take ARC to court to seek a recall order. The NHTSA would not say when or whether any of this will happen.
Automakers know many of the models affected. But many say they're still gathering information from later model years to determine which vehicles contain the affected inflators.
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More than 30 million US drivers don't know if they're at risk from a rare but dangerous airbag blastMore than 33 million people in the United States are driving vehicles that contain a potentially deadly threat: Airbag inflators that in rare cases can explode in a collision and spew shrapnel. Few of them know it. And because of a dispute between federal safety regulators and an airbag parts manufacturer, they aren’t likely to find out anytime soon. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding that the manufacturer, ARC Automotive of Knoxville, Tennessee, recall 67 million inflators that could explode with such force as to blow apart a metal canister and expel shrapnel. But ARC is refusing to do so, setting up a possible court fight with the agency.
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