Second Company Probed for Air Bag Inflator Malfunctions
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 Chrysler Town & Country minivans and another 70,000 Kia Optima midsize sedans.
The probe, revealed in documents posted Tuesday 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.
At the present time it is unknown if there is a common root cause in these incidents.
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.
