How to Tell if Your Car Is Affected by the Most Recent Fatal Airbag Inflator Investigation
What Car Shoppers Need to Know
- Defective airbag inflators are manufactured by Chinese company DTN.
- The inflators appear to be replacement parts used in repairs after prior collisions.
- So far, only driver-side airbag inflators have been involved.
More than a decade after the Takata airbag crisis began its mutation into what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration once said is “the largest and most complex safety recall in U.S. history,” components from another airbag supplier have begun to suffer similar failures.
NHTSA has announced an ongoing investigation into airbag inflators manufactured by DTN, a Chinese company also known as Jilin Province Detiannuo Safety Technology. Like the Takata inflators, the DTN parts can rupture in a crash, blasting metal shrapnel into occupants. To date, NHTSA is aware of 12 collisions in which DTN inflators have exploded, resulting in 10 deaths and two serious injuries. The first was reported in May 2023, and the failures have occurred in crashes nationwide, including in Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah.
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Unlike the airbag inflators covered by the Takata recall, the DTN parts are not original equipment — that is, they are not factory-installed parts. Rather, they are aftermarket replacement parts that were used in repairs from previous collisions. NHTSA alleges the DTN inflators may have been illegally imported, but the investigation is ongoing.
How to Tell if Your Vehicle Is Affected
According to NHTSA, the compromised inflators were manufactured from 2021-22. So far, the crashes in which the parts failed have all involved Chevrolet Malibus or Hyundai Sonatas, but NHTSA states that it “does not have information to confirm the risk is limited to these makes and models.”
To determine if your vehicle may have a faulty DTN airbag inflator, you need to answer a few simple questions. If the answer to any of these is no, there is no risk of your vehicle having a DTN inflator — at least not per NHTSA’s current understanding of the issue. The questions follow below.
Do you own a vehicle purchased after 2020?
Since the compromised inflators were manufactured from 2021-22, vehicles with a known history since then likely are safe. Likewise, since the DTN components are replacement parts, new vehicles with no crash history are also safe. If you do have a vehicle you purchased used since 2020, get a vehicle history report from a reputable source such as AutoCheck, Bumper or Carfax.
Has your vehicle been in a crash since 2020?
Since the DTN airbag inflators are replacement parts, vehicles that have not been involved in an incident will not have them.
If your vehicle was in a crash since 2020, did the airbags deploy?
This is the most important question. Airbags are one-time use items; if they deployed in an accident, then they have been replaced and may have been replaced with faulty DTN parts. However, since airbags are expensive, they are not typically replaced unless they have deployed.
Was the vehicle repaired by a shop other than a franchised dealership?
Manufacturer dealerships typically use original equipment manufacturer parts for repairs. Since DTN is not an original equipment supplier, its parts are unlikely to be installed in vehicles repaired in manufacturer-affiliated facilities.
What should you do if you think your car might have a DTN inflator?
If you think your vehicle is at risk for having a DTN airbag inflator, have it inspected immediately by a reputable mechanic, preferably at a franchised dealership — they will be able to determine if any replacement parts are original equipment or legitimate replacements. If your vehicle does have a DTN inflator, it should not be driven until the inflator is replaced. Since airbags deploy in a wide range of incidents, a faulty inflator can turn a relatively minor crash into a fatal one.
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