The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued an urgent safety warning after counterfeit airbag inflators imported from China were linked to eight driver fatalities and two serious injuries in the United States. The inflators, allegedly manufactured by Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System Co. Ltd. (DTN), are believed to have been illegally brought into the country and installed as replacement parts.
According to NHTSA, the counterfeit inflators ruptured during crashes, firing metal fragments into vehicle occupants instead of deploying safely—an extremely dangerous failure mode reminiscent of past airbag scandals. All ten known incidents involved vehicles that had their original airbags replaced after earlier crashes, raising serious concerns about the use of unverified parts in accident repairs.
So far, confirmed cases have involved Chevrolet Malibu and Hyundai Sonata models, many of which carried salvage or rebuilt titles. However, the agency has cautioned that the risk is not limited to specific brands or models, as the counterfeit inflators may have been installed across a wider range of vehicles.
NHTSA has opened a formal investigation into DTN inflators and has alerted the US auto repair industry about the potential threat. DTN itself has acknowledged on its website that its airbag inflators are not approved for sale in the United States.
The safety agency is now urging used car buyers and current owners to carefully verify a vehicle’s history, especially if it has been previously involved in a crash. Any vehicle suspected of having a non-genuine replacement airbag should be inspected immediately, and if a DTN inflator is found, the vehicle should not be driven until the part is replaced with a certified, genuine component.
The warning serves as a stark reminder of the life-or-death importance of using approved safety parts—especially in critical systems like airbags.
