Key facts
- An eleventh U.S. motorist has died in a crash linked to banned Chinese replacement automobile air bag inflators.
- The fatality occurred on August 27 in Dallas, Texas, involving a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox.
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) banned these substandard components in April.
- The air bag inflators are manufactured in China by Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System Co Ltd (DTN).
- NHTSA stated the inflators have malfunctioned in otherwise survivable crashes, causing severe injuries and fatalities.
A motorist was killed in Dallas on August 27 in a crash involving a banned substandard Chinese replacement automobile air bag inflator, marking the eleventh such fatality in the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the death on Thursday, stating it was the first since the agency banned the components in April following their link to ten previous fatal crashes.
The NHTSA has blamed the replacement air bag inflators, manufactured by China-based Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System Co Ltd (DTN), for malfunctioning in otherwise survivable crashes. The agency stated these failures sent large metal fragments into drivers, causing severe injuries and deaths.
DTN has responded to the NHTSA, asserting that it cannot be proven the inflators in question were manufactured by the company, nor that the accidents were caused by defective inflators. The company also stated it has never directly sold these inflators to the U.S. market.
Since May 2023, there have been 13 reported incidents involving these inflators. Three people were killed in Hyundai Sonata vehicles, and ten General Motors crashes resulted in eight fatalities and two serious injuries, with most of these GM incidents involving Chevrolet Malibus. The last fatal crash prior to the Dallas incident occurred in February in Clarksdale, Mississippi, involving a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu.
The NHTSA issued an urgent warning to vehicle owners and repair shops in January and urges owners of vehicles that experienced an air bag deployment since 2020 to have their vehicles inspected.