KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary evaluation into ARC Automotive, Inc. in July 2015 to investigate defects in the company's products.
They said the investigation was opened after the administration learned of two "driver airbag inflator ruptures" involving ARC-designed inflators. They said that the investigation was upgraded to an engineering analysis in Aug. 2016. They said a fatality in Canada linked to the company's inflators spurred the upgrade.
The investigation continued and on Friday, they sent a letter to the company asking for their products to be recalled.
"NHTSA is issuing this recall request letter to notify you that the Agency has tentatively concluded that a defect related to motor vehicle safety exists in the frontal driver and passenger air bag inflators under investigation that were produced before installation of borescopes on all toroidal inflator manufacturing lines in January 2018," the letter says.
They said the recall would be for 67 million driver and passenger airbags, some of which were manufactured in Knoxville. They said the airbags can project metal fragments into people after a crash, creating an "unreasonable risk of death and injury."
If the company decides not to move forward with the recall, it must provide a full explanation of its decision.