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The U.S. government appears poised to order a recall of millions of air bag inflators due to a manufacturing flaw that could send metal shrapnel rocketing through a car's interior.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration held a public hearing Thursday to field commentary and testimony on inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc. of Knoxville, Tennessee, which supplies the devices to air bag makers and several major auto companies. At least 25 million vehicles containing ARC-made air bags could be affected.
At the heart of the issue is a metal inflator canister inside the airbag device. The government contends that a crucial flaw could cause this canister to "rupture" upon impact. Instead of releasing pressurized gas to inflate the air bag, the canister essentially explodes, sending metal shrapnel into the vehicle at head height.
"These injuries can be gruesome and can happen in crashes where otherwise the individual would have walked away from the crash unharmed," Bruce York of NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation said.
Another NHTSA official, Sharon Yukevich, said the continued presence of the inflators was "an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death to vehicle occupants."
She added, "The data and evidence suggests that this will happen again. The timing is unpredictable."
In May the agency asked ARC to recall the inflators, which it says are responsible for at least seven injuries and two deaths in the United States and Canada since 2009. ARC has refused to issue a full-scale recall, setting the stage for the possible court fight.
NHTSA announced last month it had made an initial decision that the inflators made by ARC and under license by another company are defective. Thursday's hearing was one of the final steps before the agency can issue a formal recall order and take the case to court for enforcement.
Neither NHTSA nor ARC nor the automakers have released a full list of car models with the inflators.