NHTSA Expands Air Bag Probe into 12.3M Cars

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expanding a probe into potentially defective air bags to 12.3 million vehicles and upgrading it to an engineering analysis.

April 24, 2019

April 23, 2019—The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expanding a probe into potentially defective air bags to 12.3 million vehicles and upgrading it to an engineering analysis, which is a step required before it can seek to compel recalls, reported Reuters.

The NHTSA said the air bags were installed in some vehicles from model years 2010-19 sold by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co, Kia Motors Corp, Mitsubishi and Toyota Motor Corp.

The agency opened a preliminary probe in 2018 of about 400,000 vehicles, and said on Tuesday it had reports of two crashes and two injuries related to the defect along with one death in a Toyota vehicle.

The issue could be tied to as many as eight deaths, according to the report.