Driver air bag malfunction

An NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation into Pontiac vehicles. Closed 11 June 2001.

Investigation
PE01002
Type
Preliminary Evaluation
Opened
10 January 2001
Closed
11 June 2001

What NHTSA investigated

Odi is aware of one reported incident of a driver-side air bag inflator separation in a model year 1999 pontiac grand prix.an investigation of the incident revealed that a two-inch, disk-shaped fragment of the aluminum inflator assembly ruptured the air bag, broke off portions of the air gab cover flaps, and struck the driver.also, evidence showed hot combustion gases/particulate escaped into the passenger compartment.the driver sustained numerous injuries from the inflator fragementand hot gases/particulate.a teardown of the failed inflator did not reveal any observable defects or root cause of failure.gm and its suppliers (delphi and bread) are currently working together to determine the root cause of the single reported failure and the scope of the potential problem condition in the field.finally, GM has stated that model year 1998-2000 pontiac grand prix vehicles and model year 1998-2001 pontiac montana vehicles have identical driver-side air bag inflators.the engineering analysis will cover these model/model year vehicles.

Vehicles covered

MakeModelModel years
PontiacGRAND PRIX1999

Source

From NHTSA’s investigation file, rebuilt daily. To report a problem with your own vehicle, go to nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem. All open investigations.