The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expanding a probe into potentially defective air bags to 12.3 million vehicles and upgrading it to an engineering analysis, which is a step required before it can seek to compel recalls, reported Reuters.
NHTSA aid the air bags were installed in some vehicles from model years 2010 through 2019 sold by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp, Mitsubishi and Toyota Motor Corp.
The agency opened a preliminary probe in 2018 of about 400,000 vehicles, and said on Tuesday it had reports of two crashes and two injuries related to the defect, along with one death in a Toyota vehicle.
The issue could be tied to as many as eight deaths, according to the report.
