The Wall Street Journal has identified at least 6.8 million vehicles that may have defective airbag inflators that spray shrapnel inside the car.
The WSJ report provides a chart with the makes and models it has identified.
But the number of vehicles affected is likely far larger. Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a letter to Knoxville, Tenn.-based ARC Automotive, the manufacturer of the part, to demand a recall. The letter states 67 million of the inflators were supplied to at least six airbag makers through January 2018, and those parts were included in vehicles of at least 12 vehicle manufacturers.
NHTSA said it identified a minimum of seven instances where the inflator was “plainly defective” and it seriously injured or killed the vehicle’s occupants. Some vehicle manufacturers have already issued recalls. General Motors, for example, has already issued a recall for several models and recently issued a recall for another one million vehicles.
The WSJ noted that ARC has disputed the claim by NHTSA that its part is defective.
