Tennessee company defies US request for airbag inflator recall

ARC Automotive, a Tennessee-based company, has refused a request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to recall 67 million potentially dangerous airbag inflators in the US. The NHTSA has demanded the recall after an eight-year investigation found that the inflators could explode and hurl shrapnel, causing injury or death. At least two people have been killed in the US and Canada, and seven others have been hurt as a result of defective ARC inflators. General Motors is recalling nearly one million vehicles equipped with ARC inflators, and at least a dozen other automakers have the allegedly faulty inflators in use.