The U.S. is forging ahead withmoves to recall at least 25 million vehicles plagued with defective airbag inflators that pose the risk of exploding and projecting shrapnel at drivers. However, Canadian officials find themselves bereft of the authority to command an equally extensive recall and are instead relying on automakers to instigate such actions.
Transport Canada has pledged to take necessary action to safeguard Canadians’ safety, a spokesperson conveyed via email. They shared that it is expected of companies to alert of any safety defects in Canada for comparable vehicles and components in cases where recalls have been initiated in other countries, including those related to ARC airbag inflators.
ARC Automotive Inc., based in Tennessee, has until now resisted the calls from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall millions of its vehicles laced with these problematic airbag inflators. These inflators have allegedly been involved in at least seven injuries and two fatalities since 2009, featuring a 2016 death in Newfoundland and an injury in Michigan in March 2023.
U.S. law enforcement has slated a public hearing on the issue for Oct. 5, serving as a prelude to seeking a court-directed recall potentially covering 52 million driver and passenger air bag inflators or a minimum of 25 million from the total 284 million vehicles now on U.S. streets.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration elaborates in a preliminary decision document that these airbag inflators could rupture upon deployment, causing metal debris to forcefully penetrate the vehicle’s passenger compartment. Such failure poses an exceedingly dangerous risk of severe injury or fatal consequences to the vehicle’s occupants, officials warned.
Evidently, these devices purposed to safely inflate airbags can be located in certain models from roughly a dozen automakers. These incidents have involved models like the 2002 Chrysler Town and Country, 2004 Kia Optima, 2009 Hyundai Elantra, 2010 Chevrolet Malibu, 2015 Volkswagen Golf, 2016 Audi A3, and the 2015 and 2017 Chevrolet Traverse. Alarmingly, these potentially hazardous inflators were all produced prior to January 2018.
Nonetheless, ARC Automotive denies a generalized safety concern and argues these incidents are isolated matters. The company proposes they stem from anomalous manufacturing issues that automakers have already addressed through recalls targeted at specific lots.
As U.S. officials endeavor to recall all vehicles fitted with ARC airbag inflators made before 2018, Transport Canada’s focus remains on inflators from designated production lots linked to known incidents and problems. The organisation has recalled 45,507 automobiles fitted with ARC airbag inflators since 2017, a mere 1.3% of the estimated 3.5 million vehicles possessing such inflators in Canada.
The Canadian recalls encompass models ranging from 2009 to 2017 from BMW, Ford, Hyundai, General Motors to Volkswagen. More than 90 per cent stem from May 2023’s recall of over 42,000 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia SUV models constructed from 2014 to 2017.
Transport Canada has released an exhaustive catalogue of vehicles containing driver-side ARC airbag inflators stretching from 1998 to 2017. It includes major brands such as BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat, Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Hyundai, and Kia. These vehicles constitute over one-tenth of registered vehicles.
Despite the severity of the situation, Transport Canada admits that it lacks direct authority over component suppliers like ARC Automotive Inc. The department maintains ongoing monitoring of the situation in Canada and elsewhere, in collaboration with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from the U.S. Department of Transportation, an alliance that originated in 2016.