Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Wire report
DETROIT
The problem of exploding air bags could be widening beyond Japanese manufacturer Takata Corp.
U.S. safety regulators are investigating inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc. that went into about 420,000 older Fiat Chrysler Town and Country minivans and another 70,000 Kia Optima midsize sedans.
The probe, revealed in documents posted today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, comes just weeks after Takata agreed to recall 33.8 million inflators in the U.S. in the largest automotive recall in American history. At least eight people have been killed worldwide by flying shrapnel from Takata inflators, and more than 100 injured.
The safety agency said it received a complaint in December about a 2009 incident in a 2002 Chrysler minivan but determined it was an isolated case involving an ARC driver’s side inflator. Then in June, Kia told the agency about a lawsuit involving a 2004 Optima with an ARC driver’s side inflator, so the agency decided to open an investigation. Both cases are the only known incidents involving ARC inflators in vehicles made by either automaker.
Knoxville, Tennessee-based ARC said in a statement that it is cooperating in the probe and pointed to a 60-year record of “serving our customers with products that meet the most stringent global safety standards.”
Fiat Chrysler said it no longer uses the inflators that are being investigated. Both it and Kia said they are cooperating.