U.S. safety regulators are investigating air bag inflators made by ARC Automotive that went into about 420,000 older Fiat Chrysler Town and Country minivans and another 70,000 KIA Optima midsize sedans.
Documents posted on Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) come just weeks after Takata agreed to recall 33.8 million inflators in the U.S. - the largest automotive recall in American history, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Takata airbags use ammonium nitrate as the main propellant, and it can become unstable over time when exposed to high humidity and temperatures. The chemical can burn too fast and blow apart a metal inflator canister. Automakers, NHTSA and Takata are trying to find exactly what causes the malfunctions
The agency said it received a complaint in December about a 2009 incident in a 2002 Chrysler minivan but determined it was an isolated case involving an ARC driver's side inflator. Later, in June, KIA told the agency about a lawsuit involving a 2004 Optima with another ARC driver's side inflator, so the agency decided to open an investigation, according to CNBC.
"At the present time it is unknown if there is a common root cause in these incidents," NHTSA investigators wrote in the documents. "(The agency) is opening this investigation in order to collect all known facts from the involved suppliers and vehicle manufacturers."
Two people were hurt in the incidents, but no one was killed.
Fiat Chrysler spokesman Eric Mayne said the company is cooperating with the investigation and it no longer uses the inflators that are being investigated.
ARC airbags have inflators that use an inert gas to fill the air bag which is supplemented by an ammonium nitrate-based propellant. A preliminary analysis of the Chrysler minivan system showed that the path for the inflator gas to exit the inflator may have been blocked by an unknown object, according to SFGate.
According to the NHTSA, ARC made inflators for Delphi Corp. air bags that were sold to KIA and used in Optimas, and it made inflators for Key Safety Systems air bags sold to Chrysler and used in minivans.
Delphi said in a statement that it will respond to any NHTSA inquiries in the investigation.
ARC inflators were used in some of its air bag assemblies before the company sold its air bag business in 2010, the statement said. Key said it would support the investigation.
