Defective ARC Airbags in Cadillac Escalades Tennessee Class Action

Airbags are safety equipment for vehicles, but the complaint for this class action alleges that some airbags can themselves become hazards. The complaint brings suit against ARC Automotive, Inc., Autoliv, Inc., Autoliv ASP, Inc., and General Motors, LLC for equipping certain vehicles with defective airbags that can “rupture and shoot metal shrapnel into the vehicle during a crash.”

The class for this action is all persons who bought or leased a 2007-2010 Cadillac Escalade in Tennessee.

To protect people during a crash, airbags must inflate very quickly. The airbags in this case are stored gas hybrid inflators installed in front of the driver and front-seat passenger.

The complaint cites three things it claims make the airbags dangerous.

First, it alleges, the airbags use phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN) in the propellant. The complaint claims that PSAN “is highly volatile and can exacerbate pressure in the system, which in turn can exert too much force on the metal inflator housing, causing it to rupture.”

PSAN is rarely used by makers of airbag inflators, the complaint alleges, “because of its dangerous and volatile nature.” It claims that ARC could have chosen another propellant and implies ARC used PSAN because it was less expensive.

Second, the complaint alleges that ARC chose “a defective friction welding specification that fails to prevent, inspect for, and remove errant metal formations that can block the Defective Inflators’ vents and lead to over-pressurization” of the inflators. During friction welding, the complaint alleges, pieces of metal, known as “weld flash,” can be flung into places where it is not intended to be.

When the airbag deploys, the complaint alleges, the weld flash may break off and clog the port through which the gas is supposed to escape to inflate the airbag. “When the gas cannot escape,” the complaint claims, “it accumulates and begins to exert greater and greater pressure on the cannister, with the potential of an eventual rupture.” According to the complaint, the welding process should include preventing weld flash, inspecting the cannister after welding to look for weld flash in a dangerous location, or, if weld flash is found, either removing it or getting rid of the unit.

Finally, the complaint alleges that, after choosing two things that could raise the pressure in the inflator cannister, ARC should have added pressure relief valves, “which could mitigate increasing pressure and return it to a safe level that would not burst the inflator cannister.”

Despite knowing of the problems with the inflators, the complaint alleges, the defendants in this case continued to make them, install them in vehicles, and sell the vehicles to consumers without any warning.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation in July 2015 that was upgraded to an Engineering Analysis, and that is still ongoing.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Automobile
Tags: Defective Airbags, Defective Automobile