Banned Chinese Airbag Part Kills an 11th American, This Time in a Chevrolet Equinox

• A banned Chinese-made airbag inflator marked DTN60DB has now killed 11 people in the United States, with the newest death confirmed in a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox in Dallas on August 27.
• Every prior death and injury happened in a Chevrolet Malibu or Hyundai Sonata, all in vehicles that had a genuine airbag inflator swapped for a counterfeit part after an earlier crash.
• NHTSA wants anyone whose car had an airbag deploy in a crash after 2020 and was not fixed at a dealership to get it inspected before driving it again.

A $100 Part Swap Is Now Linked to 11 Deaths on American Roads

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed on September 3 that a driver in Dallas died on August 27 after the airbag in a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox exploded rather than inflated in what the agency called an otherwise survivable crash. It is the 11th confirmed death tied to a banned airbag inflator manufactured overseas and marked with the identifier DTN60DB, and the first fatality in a Chevrolet outside the Malibu. The ten deaths and three serious injuries recorded before it all happened in Chevrolet Malibu and Hyundai Sonata sedans that had their original frontal driver airbag inflators swapped for the counterfeit part.

Instead of inflating a cushion to protect a driver’s chest and face, a ruptured DTN60DB inflator sends metal fragments into the chest, neck, eyes and face at close range. NHTSA has been tracking the problem for more than a year, and in April 2026 the agency took the rare step of banning the import and sale of the part outright, its first forced equipment ban in over two decades.

Why a Fake Airbag Part Ended Up in Real American Cars

The path these inflators took into American driveways runs through the used car repair market rather than any dealership. A genuine factory airbag module and inflator assembly typically costs over $1,000 to replace at a certified shop. Unauthorized repair shops and online sellers have offered counterfeit modules built around DTN inflators for as little as $100, a gap wide enough to draw in budget body shops and salvage title rebuilders looking to cut costs on a repair that few car owners ever think to check.

Nearly every documented DTN60DB failure traces back to a used vehicle with a salvage or rebuilt title that had its airbag replaced outside a manufacturer’s dealer network after an earlier crash deployed the original airbag. The car is then typically repaired, retitled and resold with no record anywhere in its paperwork of what part actually sits behind the steering wheel. A buyer doing a routine vehicle history check has no way to see it. Chinese manufacturer Jilin Province Detiannuo Safety Technology Co., known as DTN, has told NHTSA it never sold these inflators for installation in U.S. vehicles and has suggested the parts reaching American cars could be counterfeit copies of its product. NHTSA has said that dispute does not change its finding that the DTN60DB part itself is defective, wherever it actually came from.

How the Ban Has Played Out From April to Now

When NHTSA announced the ban in April, the agency said the inflators had been linked to at least 10 deaths and two serious injuries across a dozen crashes, all in Malibu and Sonata models. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the parts “illegal” and said anyone caught importing or selling them would “be held accountable,” while NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison described the ban as the agency’s first forced action of its kind in 20 years. Five months later, the death toll has climbed by one and the list of affected models has grown to include the Equinox, a sign that the counterfeit parts reached further into the used car market than the original Malibu and Sonata cases suggested. The inflators were imported illegally in the first place, and NHTSA has been direct about the fact that nobody, including the agency itself, knows how many are still installed in cars on the road today.

What Owners of Used Cars Should Do Right Now

NHTSA’s guidance centers on one question: has this specific car ever had its airbag deploy in a crash, and if so, who fixed it. A vehicle history report from a service such as Carfax or the government-run National Motor Vehicle Title Information System can show whether a car has a salvage or rebuilt title and whether it was ever in a reported crash. That report alone will not confirm what parts were used in a repair, so NHTSA says any car that deployed an airbag in a crash from 2020 onward and was not repaired at a manufacturer’s own dealership should go to a reputable mechanic for an inspection before it is driven again. The agency is explicit that owners should not try to inspect or remove an airbag themselves.

Shoppers looking at a used Malibu, Sonata or Equinox on a private-sale lot face a harder version of the same problem. Sellers are not required to disclose what parts a previous repair used, and many do not know themselves. Pulling the vehicle’s title history before agreeing to buy is the first step, and any salvage or rebuilt branding should trigger a direct question to the seller about who performed the repair and whether original manufacturer parts were used. A pre-purchase inspection by an independent mechanic, run before money changes hands rather than after, catches a counterfeit inflator that a title report cannot. Dealerships that specialize in certified pre-owned vehicles typically verify airbag components as part of their inspection checklist, which gives buyers one more reason to weigh a certified used car against a cheaper private-party listing with an unclear repair history.

If a mechanic finds a DTN60DB-marked inflator, NHTSA says the car should not be driven until it is replaced with a genuine part. Owners who find one of the suspect inflators are asked to report it to their local Homeland Security Investigations office, an FBI field office, or the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, as the parts are believed to have entered the country illegally. NHTSA also takes reports directly through its website or its Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time.

A Smaller Echo of the Takata Crisis

The scale here is nowhere near the Takata airbag scandal, which was tied to dozens of deaths worldwide and forced the recall of tens of millions of vehicles built with factory-installed defective inflators over more than a decade. The DTN60DB problem is smaller and runs through the aftermarket repair trade rather than original manufacturing, but the underlying danger for a driver behind the wheel is identical: a part meant to save a life in a crash instead becomes the thing that kills them. For a driver shopping for a used Malibu, Sonata or Equinox with any history of prior collision damage, that makes a full vehicle history check and a mechanic’s inspection worth the time and the cost before signing anything.

NHTSA’s investigation into the inflators remains open, and the agency has not ruled out finding the parts in other makes and models as more cases surface. Investigators have not said how they expect the count of affected vehicles to grow, only that the used car market where these parts spread makes a precise number hard to pin down. For now, the clearest warning sign is a used car with a salvage or rebuilt title and any indication of a prior airbag deployment, repaired anywhere other than a factory-authorized dealer.

Sources:

• NHTSA: Banned Chinese Air Bag Inflator Kills 11th Person in the U.S.
• NHTSA: Bans Sale and Import of Deadly, Defective Chinese Air Bag Inflators
• NHTSA: Deadly Air Bag Inflator Replacements information page