ARC Airbag Lawsuit: Exploding Airbags
- Last Updated: July 14th, 2025
Attorney Jessica Paluch-Hoerman, founder of TruLaw, has over 28 years of experience as a personal injury and mass tort attorney, and previously worked as an international tax attorney at Deloitte. Jessie collaborates with attorneys nationwide — enabling her to share reliable, up-to-date legal information with our readers.
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ARC Airbag Lawsuit: Exploding Airbags
ARC Automotive Inc is facing ARC airbag lawsuit claims for defective airbag inflators that may explode and injure vehicle occupants.
ARC airbag inflators are in numerous vehicles manufactured in the past decade, including several models of General Motors (GM), Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Kia vehicles.
If you or a loved one have suffered injuries related to ARC Automotive’s defective inflators, you may qualify for an ARC Airbag Lawsuit.
Contact TruLaw for a free consultation or use the chatbot on this page to see if you qualify for legal action instantly.
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About the ARC Airbag Lawsuit
ARC Airbag Lawsuits can be filed on behalf of individuals who were injured or killed by metal fragments or shrapnel expelled from defective airbag inflators.
These airbag inflators are present in a number of vehicles produced by the most popular car brands – an estimated 51 million vehicles on the road have ARC airbag inflators installed.
ARC Automotive Inc. is a global manufacturer of airbag inflators, supplying millions of vehicles with vital pieces that ensure airbags deploy when a driver is in an accident.
Though they are a safety company first and foremost, their defective products have unfortunately resulted in at least two deaths and countless injuries.
What’s Wrong with the ARC Airbag Inflators?
ARC Airbag Inflators, substantially similar to the Takata Airbags that injured and killed dozens of people, use ammonium nitrate as a secondary propellant to fill airbags upon collision.
Ammonium nitrate is a volatile and unstable chemical that can explode when put under extreme heat or pressure.
Ammonium nitrate has been used as a propellant, in explosive materials, in fertilizers and herbicides, and in countless other industrial applications for decades.
When deployed in a car accident, the airbag inflator has the potential to explode and send metal fragments into a vehicle’s cabin due to the unstable ammonium nitrate contained in the canister.
Both in accident reports and internal testing, ARC Automotive and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have found that ammonium nitrate is a dangerous chemical to use for airbag inflators and can injure or kill vehicle occupants even in minor collisions where people are not expected to be seriously injured.
Have ARC Airbag Inflators Been Recalled?
Despite the numerous reported issues and injuries and deaths associated with the exploding inflators, ARC Automotive has not been subject to a widespread recall that includes the entire fleet of vehicles with them installed.
There have been three limited recalls on certain vehicle models with ARC Airbag inflators, affecting a couple thousand of the tens of millions of cars that have been known to use ARC inflators.
ARC Airbag Inflators Linked to the Deaths of Two People
At least two deaths have been reportedly linked to the faulty ARC Airbag Inflators. The victim’s stories are listed below:
- Marlene Beadoin, a mother of ten children, was killed by metal fragments expelled into the cabin of her 2015 Chevy Traverse when involved in a relatively minor accident in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed on her behalf against ARC Automotive, General Motors and Toyoda Gosei North America.
- A Canadian woman was killed by metal fragments expelled into the vehicle cabin of her 2009 Hyundai Elantra. This 2016 accident was said to be at low speeds and would not have resulted in major injuries or death if it hadn’t been for the defective ARC airbag inflator.
ARC Airbag Class Action Lawsuit
Multiple class action lawsuits have been filed for ARC Airbag Inflator defects.
These lawsuits have named the following companies as defendants:
- ARC Automotive Inc.
- General Motors
- Volkswagen
- Ford
- Audi
- Hyundai
- Kia
- Joyson Safety Systems
- Toyoda Gosei North America
One proposed class action lawsuit was filed in the US District Court: District of South Carolina in August 2022.
Another was filed in June 2022 in the US District Court: Northern District of California.
These class action lawsuits allege that ARC Automotive and vehicle manufacturers knew or should have known that their vehicle components were dangerous.
The class action suits further demand compensation for victims for the lost value of their vehicle, loss of use of their vehicles, and other costs related to the defective airbag inflators.
*TruLaw is NOT involved in the ARC Airbag Inflator Class Action Lawsuit.
Do You Qualify for an ARC Airbag Inflator Lawsuit?
If you or a loved one have been injured or killed due to a defective ARC airbag inflator, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit.
The safety components of a car are supposed to work in a way that protects vehicle occupants from accidents and danger, not put them at even further risk.
The ARC Airbag Inflator has the potential to explode and expel metal fragments into the vehicle cabin that can easily injure or kill vehicle occupants.
ARC Automotive and any other company complicit in the inaction to remove these inflators from the market must be held responsible.
TruLaw: Investigating Claims and Accepting Clients for the ARC Airbag Lawsuit
TruLaw’s network of expert attorneys is investigating claims against ARC Automotive and other vehicle manufacturers, and is accepting clients who have been injured or their loved one’s killed due to the faulty airbag inflators.
If you or a loved one have been injured or killed due to ARC’s defective inflators, contact TruLaw today for a free consultation.
You can also use the Instant Case Evaluator on this page to see if you qualify for legal action instantly.
Our product liability attorneys understand the difficulty of the situation and aim to hold the companies responsible.
Don’t hesitate to reach out – justice for victims cannot wait.
Managing Attorney & Owner
With over 25 years of legal experience, Jessica Paluch-Hoerman is an Illinois lawyer, a CPA, and a mother of three. She spent the first decade of her career working as an international tax attorney at Deloitte.
In 2009, Jessie co-founded her own law firm with her husband – which has scaled to over 30 employees since its conception.
In 2016, Jessie founded TruLaw, which allows her to collaborate with attorneys and legal experts across the United States on a daily basis. This hypervaluable network of experts is what enables her to share the most reliable, accurate, and up-to-date legal information with our readers!
Additional ARC Airbag Lawsuit resources on our website:
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Alongside our partner law firms, we have successfully collected over $3 Billion in verdicts and settlements on behalf of injured individuals.
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