A business based in Tennessee may face legal implications for defying a request made by American auto safety regulators to recall air bag inflators that could potentially cause harm.

ARC Automotive Inc. of Knoxville has been instructed to recall 67 million inflators in the United States by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since they pose a risk of exploding and spewing shrapnel. As per the agency’s report, two individuals have already died in the United States and Canada, and seven others have been injured due to these faulty ARC inflators.

The recall would affect a significant number of the 284 million cars currently on American roads, but it’s hard to say exactly how many. Many of these cars have ARC inflators installed for the driver and front passenger.

The agency sent ARC a letter on Friday informing them that, after an eight-year investigation, they have tentatively found a safety defect in the front driver and passenger inflators of ARC vehicles.

According to Stephen Ridella, the director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation, airbag inflators that expel metal fragments at passengers instead of effectively inflating the airbag pose a great risk of serious harm or even death, in a letter from Ridella to ARC.

But ARC has stated that no defects exist in the inflators, and any issues that arise are related to specific manufacturing problems.

So, now NHTSA will probably set up a public hearing as the following step in the process, and if the company doesn’t agree to recall, NHTSA can go to court to require a recall.

In a statement released on Friday, ARC expressed its opposition to the recent wide-ranging request made by NHTSA, citing the lack of any inherent defect in extensive field tests.

On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shared papers that indicate General Motors has issued a recall for approximately 1 million cars that have ARC inflators installed. This recall affects specific models of Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, and GMC Acadia SUVs made between 2014 and 2017.

According to the automaker, if the inflator explodes, it could potentially cause metal fragments to strike the driver or passengers and result in serious injury or even death.

Starting from June 25th, owners are going to be notified via a letter about the ongoing issue, but the solution to it is not yet available. An additional letter will be sent to them as soon as the solution becomes available.

GM has announced that it will be providing “courtesy transportation” to affected vehicle owners who feel uneasy driving their cars due to the recall.

The business has announced a recall, extending its previous efforts, as a precautionary measure with the utmost concern for the safety of its clients.

In the summer of 2021 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a mother of 10 lost her life in a seemingly minor car accident. According to police records, a piece of metal from the airbag inflator struck her neck when she was involved in a collision with a 2015 Chevrolet Traverse SUV.

NHTSA mentioned that car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Ford, BMW, and GM are among the approximately twelve companies who are reportedly using the faulty inflators.

According to the agency, when debris from welding during the manufacturing process gets in the way of the gas trying to fill an airbag during a crash, it can obstruct the “exit orifice” for the gas, which could potentially result in the inflator being pressurized and exploding, causing metal fragments to fly out, as stated in Ridella’s letter.

However, in a May 11th letter addressed to Ridella, Steve Gold, Vice President of Product Integrity at ARC, stated that NHTSA’s position lacks any objective technical or engineering evidence of a defect, rather it is based on conclusive statements about the potential blockage of the inflator orifice due to ‘weld slag.’

According to his statement, none of the seven inflator ruptures in the United States have been confirmed to be caused by welding debris. The American Chemistry Council (ARC) argues that only five of them ruptured while being used, which in turn does not indicate the existence of a widespread and systemic defect within this group.

Gold suggests that equipment manufacturers such as ARC should not be responsible for recalls, but rather manufacturers. According to him, NHTSA’s demand for recalls goes beyond its legal jurisdiction.

Last year, a group of people filed a legal claim against ARC. They claimed that the inflators manufactured by ARC use ammonium nitrate as a secondary substance to trigger the airbags. The substance is formed into tablets that can expand, but may develop tiny holes if they get wet. When such tablets are degraded, their surface area increases, causing them to burn excessively fast and create a large explosion, as stated in the lawsuit.

The explosion has the potential to shatter the metal canister containing the chemical, causing metal fragments to scatter throughout the cabin. The chemical compound in question is ammonium nitrate, which is commonly used in fertilizer and can also serve as a low-cost explosive. According to the lawsuit, ammonium nitrate is highly hazardous and has the capacity to ignite rapidly even in dry conditions.

According to the lawsuit, the ARC inflators have exploded seven times on American roads and two times during ARC testing. In response, there have been a total of five small recalls of the inflators that affected approximately 5,000 vehicles, three of which were carried out by General Motors.