The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has banned replacement air bag inflators from China after linking them to deadly crashes.
The inflators, all marked with the identifier "DTN60DB," were likely illegally imported into the U.S., the agency said Wednesday.
The NHTSA cited 12 U.S. crashes, which resulted in 10 deaths, involving devices tied to the Chinese private company Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System, saying the air bag inflators sent metal fragments into drivers in otherwise survivable collisions.
Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System denied responsibility, noting multiple Chinese manufacturers produce similar parts and disputing evidence that its products caused the incidents, according to a same-day report by Reuters.