U.S. officials probe rupturing air bag concerns beyond those involved in Takata recall

The United States’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirmed on Monday that it has opened an investigation into another instance involving the possibility of rupturing air bag components. The announcement comes about two months after the Takata air bag recall, which affected more than 34 million vehicles, including at least 1.2 million in Canada.

Documents posted on the NHTSA’s website said that the affected population consists of approximately 420,000 2002 Chrysler Town and Country vehicles and 70,000 2004 Kia Optima vehicles.

“At the present time, it is unknown if there is a common root cause in these incidents, the documents said. “ODI [the Office of Defects Investigation] is opening this investigation in order to collect all known facts from the involved suppliers and vehicle manufacturers.”

In Dec. 2014, the ODI received a complaint of a 2009 incident involving a driver’s side air bag inflator rupture in a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, but concluded that the incident was a “single isolated event,” the information said. But in June of this year, Kia notified ODI of a lawsuit alleging a driver side inflator rupture in a 2004 Kia Optima.

ODI investigation revealed that both the 2009 and 2014 incidents involved an inflator supplied by ARC Automotive, the manufacturer of the inflator. “Preliminary analysis indicates that the exhaust path for the inflation gas mixture may have been blocked by an object of indeterminate origin,” the documents said. “This blockage appears to have caused high internal pressure and subsequent rupture of the inflator assembly.”

ODI’s “present understanding is that this incident is the only known inflator rupture involving the ARC inflator in a [Fiat Chrysler Automobile] vehicle,” the information said. With the 2004 Kia Optima incident, “the root cause of the rupture is presently unknown. Presently, this is the only known incident involving the subject inflator in a Kia vehicle.”

In May, Takata Corporation recalled nearly 34 million defective air bag inflators, which caused at least seven deaths. In late May, Transport Canada said that at least 1.2 million vehicles are affected.