Autoliv claims seat belt, airbags may lead to 400,000 vehicle recalls

Automakers may recall as many as 400,000 vehicles that have Autoliv Inc. seat belt and airbag parts worldwide, the Swedish auto safety parts maker said on Friday. No crashes or injuries have been reported in the two separate issues Autoliv reported to U.S. safety regulators and the costs of the potential recalls will not be material to Autoliv earnings, company spokesman Thomas Jonsson said.

Autoliv said there are possible glitches in its widely used seat belt pretensioners, which work to tighten seat belts to better secure a driver or passenger, and a product that initiates the process of inflating an airbag. One of the two Autoliv filings with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is for seat belt parts in about 267,000 vehicles. In the event of a crash, a small part called a micro gas generator used in seat belts pretensioners could detach and “may be a projectile within the vehicle cabin,” the NHTSA filing shows. Read more