As the U.S. pushes for a broad recall of a potentially faulty airbag component, Transport Canada says it is monitoring the situation and expects notification if it is recalled elsewhere, but did not say it is taking action itself.
The issue is over airbag inflators from U.S.-based company ARC Automotive. Its airbag inflators have resulted in seven incidents in the U.S. since 2009 and one in Canada, with four incidents since 2021, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The agency released a report Tuesday that said the inflators made before 2018 are defective and is set to hold a public meeting in early October that ARC may attend. NHTSA is suggesting up to 52 million of the inflators should be recalled.
“Transport Canada will not hesitate to take action to protect the safety of Canadians,” the agency said in a statement to Global News on Thursday.
“Transport Canada expects companies to issue a notice of safety defect in Canada for substantially similar vehicles and components that are recalled in other countries, including any recalls for ARC airbag inflators.
“We are monitoring the situation here in Canada and in other countries.”
Transport Canada said that it and NHTSA have collaborated on the issue since 2016.
The airbag from ARC is connected to at least one death in Canada, when in 2016 the driver-side airbag inflator ruptured in a 2009 Hyundai Elantra, resulting in the death of the driver.
In May, General Motors recalled 42,000 SUVs in Canada from the 2014 to 2017 model years due to the ARC inflators. That’s in addition to the company recalling nearly 1 million cars in the U.S. for the same reason.
The other incidents date back as far as 2009 and involve the airbag inflator rupturing, resulting in injuries and one other death in the U.S.
Twelve vehicle manufacturers have included the airbags from ARC that are under investigation, including BMW, Kia, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, and Volkswagen, according to NHTSA.
NHTSA found that ARC’s inflators could block where the airbag deploys, which could cause over-pressurization and rupture of the airbag, as well as metal fragments “being forcefully propelled into the passenger compartment.”
“This occurrence can lead to injury or death of the vehicle occupants in what would otherwise be a normal and safe airbag deployment,” NHTSA said in its report.
ARC took steps to address the issue in 2018, and no known inflator ruptures have occurred with the product produced after then, NHTSA said, but 52 million inflators for use in vehicles were sold before then.
When NHTSA requested a recall from ARC in April, the company argued that there was insufficient evidence of a safety defect and said the seven incidents in the U.S. were “occasional or isolated failures that are an inevitable part of any volume manufacturing process,” according to the agency.
The company, which was acquired in 2016 by Chinese real estate developer Yinyi Group, said that the root cause of the ruptures was not confirmed and the report says they described the ruptured inflators as manufacturing anomalies or part of normal business.
ARC did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Transport Canada said in its statement that severe or fatal injuries caused by airbags are extremely rare and it is aware of the one ARC inflator rupture incident in Canada.
The Canadian agency previously said in August that around 6.6 million vehicles are “unsafe” but still on the road, based on a June analysis. That’s due to one in five of the 33.3 million vehicles registered since 2019 having outstanding recalls.
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