The agency last year received a complaint related to a 2009 incident involving a 2002 Chrysler Town & Country minivan. An ARC-sourced inflator allegedly exploded and caused serious injuries to the driver, requiring a hospital stay of more than three months.
“Because of the location of the air bag and the body most of the shrapnel went into [the driver's] chest, with the airbag plate breaking apart, striking her in the chin, breaking her jaw in three places,” the complaint notes. “She has permanent muscle and nerve damage.”
The NHTSA initially decided against further investigation, viewing the single accident as an isolated incident, however last month the agency received a second complaint involving a 2004 Kia Optima that uses the same airbag inflator.
“Preliminary analysis indicates that the exhaust path for the inflation gas mixture may have been blocked by an object of indeterminate origin,” the investigation document notes. “This blockage appears to have caused high internal pressure and subsequent rupture of the inflator assembly.”
The analysis suggests the problem is different than the propellant degradation issues that are believed to cause explosions in Takata airbag inflators.
The NHTSA is currently attempting to finalize a root-cause determination for the ARC inflators used in approximately 420,000 Town & Country minivans and 70,000 Optimas. It is unclear if the same component is used in a wider range of models or model years.
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