Tennesse-based air inflator manufacturer ARC Automotive Inc. could be facing a legal battle with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after refusing a recall of their products, the Register Citizen reports.
The NHTSA ordered a recall of 67 million inflators from ARC Automotive Inc. of Knoxville after concluding from an eight-year investigation that the inflators are defective. They have been found to burst open and launch shrapnel toward drivers and are blamed for killing two individuals and injuring seven.
ARC insists that its products are not inherently defective, as expressed in a May 11 statement from ARC Vice President of Product Integrity Steve Gold. He dismissed the NHTSA’s findings, having said it “does not support a finding that a systemic and prevalent defect exists in this population.” He also argued that the NHTSA is overstepping by issuing a recall on an equipment manufacturer rather than an automaker.
The next likely step the NHTSA will take is to arrange a public hearing, which could lead to ARC being taken to court to have a recall enforced.
Currently, several automakers produce vehicles with the inflators, such as Volkswagen, Ford, BMW, and GM–the latter of which recently recalled almost 1 million vehicles containing ARC inflators.
