May 5, 2020—U.S. auto safety investigators conducted a probe over six years that found no air bag defects in older General Motor (GM) vehicles, per The Detroit Free Press.
A private crash investigator filed a petition in 2013 that alleged the sensors in the passenger seats unintentionally turn off the air bags moments before a crash. According to the report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied the petition.
The safety agency checked fatal crashes involving older Impalas and similar GM vehicles in which passenger air bags didn't inflate. It found that the rate of failed air bag deployment was slightly lower than comparable vehicles.
The petition came at a time when GM was under greater scrutiny by the agency after it admitted knowing about a deadly ignition switch problem in some of its older small cars for more than a decade before recalling them, according to The Detroit Free Press.
