— Exploding airbags have killed six drivers, seriously injured two more, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found evidence that ties the ruptured airbag inflators to a Chinese company called Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System Co., Ltd.
NHTSA says all eight airbag inflators that exploded into shrapnel had been installed as replacement airbags after vehicles had been involved in previous crashes. And safety regulators believe the Detiannuo inflators were likely imported into the U.S. illegally.
According to Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System:
"We do not do business with the United States, and any of our products are prohibited from being sold to the United States. Gas generators are dangerous. You must undergo rigorous experiments and tests before use and installation."
The issue of dangerous airbags was brought to the forefront when Takata airbag inflators began exploding and killing occupants. The government also began monitoring airbag inflator company ARC, but until 2017 NHTSA knew of no field reports of abnormal deployments of imported substandard or counterfeit airbags.
That changed in September 2017 when a 2009 Honda Civic driver was killed by an airbag inflator that exploded. This was followed by a June 2023 report of a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu driver who was killed by an exploding airbag. The airbag inflator was a replacement manufactured by Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System.
Four additional Chevrolet Malibu vehicles suffered airbag explosions, but safety regulators didn't have enough information to determine which company built the substandard airbag inflators. In 2024 NHTSA issued a warning for used car buyers to learn the history of the vehicles and if the airbags had been replaced.
But in March 2025, NHTSA learned about another inflator rupture which involved a 2017 Hyundai Sonata equipped with a substandard aftermarket airbag inflator. Months later the government also learned that an exploding airbag killed the occupant of a 2019 Hyundai Sonata.
Then another exploding airbag inflator killed the occupant of a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu, and NHTSA now believes all the incidents involved airbag inflators manufactured by Detiannuo.
CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of the Detiannuo exploding airbag investigation. However, you should contact your local FBI field office if you discover your airbag inflator is not the genuine thing.