NHTSA bans Chinese airbag inflators after 10 deaths in crashes

Cheap replacement air bag parts turned into a lethal blind spot in the repair market, and federal regulators moved to shut it down after 10 deaths and two severe injuries in 12 U.S. crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration banned the sale and import of defective Chinese air bag inflators on Wednesday, calling it the first vehicle-equipment ban it had ordered in more than two decades.

The agency said the danger came from frontal driver inflators marked DTN60DB, which were likely manufactured in 2021 and 2022 and then illegally imported into the United States by unknown importers. In a final decision issued April 29, 2026, NHTSA said the parts had a defect related to motor vehicle safety. Instead of inflating the air bag in a crash, the inflators could explode and throw metal fragments into a driver’s chest, neck, eyes and face. The agency said all known ruptures occurred in Chevrolet Malibu and Hyundai Sonata vehicles, but it could not confirm the risk was limited to those models. The most recent death cited by NHTSA occurred February 16 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu.

The case points to a broader problem in the replacement-parts market, where air bags may be swapped in after a crash or after theft and then sit hidden from view until the next wreck. NHTSA said most of the affected vehicles had original equipment air bags replaced after prior crashes, and some may also have been repaired after theft. That makes used-car checks critical: owners and buyers are being told to review vehicle history reports for prior air bag deployment, crashes, total-loss events, theft history and repairs done at non-certified service centers. Vehicles with suspect inflators should not be driven until the inflator is replaced with genuine original-equipment parts.

NHTSA opened Engineering Analysis EA25005 on October 21, 2025, after earlier rupture reports, including fatal crashes in a 2019 Hyundai Sonata in August 2025 and a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu in October 2025. The agency said the number of dangerous inflators in the United States remains unknown because they were imported illegally. Sean P. Duffy said, “Banning these illegal Chinese airbag parts responsible for 10 deaths is necessary to ensure the safety of Americans on our roads.” NHTSA urged anyone who finds one of the inflators to contact Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a sign that regulators now see the problem as a criminal supply-chain issue as much as a safety defect.