Second company probed for air bag inflator malfunctions - KRQE News 13
safety regulators are investigating inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc. that went into about 420,000 older Fiat Chrysler Town and 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. 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. Fiat Chrysler spokesman Eric Mayne said the company is cooperating with the investigation and it no longer uses the inflators that are being investigated. NHTSA said in documents that ARC makes inflators that are used by other companies in their air bag systems. Source: krqe.com
