U.S. Regulators Intensify Probe of Another Air-Bag Maker

U.S. car-safety regulators intensified a probe of a lesser-known air-bag manufacturer after a fatal rupture in Canada, drawing broader scrutiny to the devices in the wake of record recalls of vehicles with Takata Corp. equipment with similar problems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday upgraded an investigation of ARC Automotive Inc. to a so-called engineering analysis after one of the Tennessee company's air bags ruptured in July and killed a driver in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, the agency said. Such probes are upgraded from initial preliminary evaluations when investigators determine potentially serious safety risks exist.

The driver of a 2009 Hyundai Elantra died when the air bag deployed in a collision, the agency said, noting the rupture mirrored those in two earlier U.S. incidents involving ARC equipment. The agency said it would gather more information and direct testing of air-bag inflaters to determine the cause of the ruptures.

Injuries were suffered in two incidents involving older Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Kia Motors Corp. vehicles, respectively, that prompted regulators to start a preliminary evaluation roughly a year ago. Regulators subsequently found General Motors Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. used similar air bags, but didn't uncover additional ruptures. In all, regulators found eight million potentially affected air bags installed in cars sold in the U.S. with production ending in September 2004.

The air-bag inflater involved in the fatal rupture was manufactured in China in 2008, the agency said, while those involved in earlier incidents that caused injuries in the U.S. were made in Knoxville, Tenn., in 2004 or earlier.

ARC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The investigation adds to concerns surrounding air bags, coming on the heels of separate record recalls of nearly 70 million devices manufactured by Japanese supplier Takata in the U.S. alone. Those air bags risk rupturing and spraying shrapnel in vehicle cabins, a defect linked to numerous deaths and injuries globally.

Regulators said ARC air bags have "significant design differences" from those made by Takata, including hermetically sealed steel protecting inflaters from outside moisture or other atmospheric conditions.

Officials have pointed to the age of air bags and prolonged exposure to heat and moisture as causes for Takata air-bag ruptures. Those factors can destabilize ammonium-nitrate propellants, leading to explosions.

ARC air-bag inflaters feature a hybrid design using high-pressure gas and a small amount of ammonium nitrate, regulators said. "The small amount of ammonium nitrate in the ARC inflaters is stored within a hermetically sealed chamber of inert gas and the moisture penetration that is a key component of the root cause of the Takata ruptures is not a factor in this investigation," a NHTSA spokesman said in a statement.

The agency is working closely with Transport Canada on the probe, it said.

Write to Mike Spector at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 04, 2016 16:05 ET (20:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.