Officials from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Thursday recommended the government mandate a recall of 52 million air bag inflators manufactured by ARC Automotive and Delphi Automotive.
The regulators believe the inflators pose a potential risk of rupturing and ejecting metal fragments.
The NHTSA held a rare public hearing on the matter, which could trigger one of the most extensive recalls in U.S. history.
Delphi Automotive, which is a part of Autoliv (NYSE:ALV), produced approximately 11 million of these inflators under a licensing agreement with ARC, who manufactured the remaining 41 million.
During the hearing, NHTSA enforcement official, Cem Hatipoglu emphasized that although the likelihood of a rupture occurring may be relatively low, the potential consequences are extremely serious and could lead to fatalities.
"The evidence shows without a recall more people will be injured or killed," Hatipoglu said.
During the hearing, ARC's Vice President, Stephen Gold, disagreed with the NHTSA's position in calling for a recall.
Gold argued that the data collected and extensive testing conducted indicated that the seven incidents associated with the inflators were "isolated" and were "not indicative of a systemic defect."
According to agency officials, the likelihood of a serious injury occurring was estimated to be one in 370,000 air bag deployments of these inflators. They pointed out that the root cause of the issue was related to debris left in the inflators during the manufacturing process.
Sharon Yukevich, an official from NHTSA, stated that based on the available data and evidence, it was anticipated that more ruptures could occur in the future.
"The timing is unpredictable and any one of the 52 million inflators is at risk," Yukevich told the hearing.
NHTSA has been scrutinizing air bag inflator ruptures for more than 15 years. GM in May agreed to recall nearly 1 million vehicles with ARC air bag inflators after a rupture in March resulted in facial injuries to a driver.
The inflators that NHTSA is encouraging for recall have been used in vehicles manufactured from 2000 through early 2018 by a total of 12 automakers, including: General Motors (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor (NYSE:F), Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) (STLAM), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM), Hyundai (OTC:HYMTF), Kia, Mercedes-Benz (OTC:MBGAF), BMW (ETR:BMWG), and Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p).