U.S. regulators move closer to recall for 50 million airbag inflators

U.S. auto safety regulators say they stand by a conclusion that more than 50 million airbag inflators are dangerous and should not be in use, taking another step toward a massive recall.

The decision Wednesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration involves inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc. in Tennessee and another parts manufacturer. It comes despite opposition from automakers.

The inflators in about 49 million vehicles from 13 manufacturers can explode and hurl shrapnel into drivers and passengers.

The agency has said the inflators are responsible for at least seven injuries and two deaths in the United States and Canada since 2009.

NHTSA said seven of the inflators have blown apart in the field in the U.S., each showing evidence of insufficient welds or too much pressure in a canister designed to contain the explosion and fill the airbags in a crash.

In addition, the agency said 23 of the inflators have ruptured in testing with causes common to the inflators that blew apart in the field. Also, four inflators have ruptured outside the U.S., killing at least one person, the agency said.

Delta CEO says airline is facing $500M in costs

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian says the airline is facing $500 million in costs related to a global tech outage this month that disrupted emergency services, communications and thousands of businesses.

Speaking on CNBC, Bastian said Wednesday that the monetary amount represents lost revenue as well as “the tens of millions of dollars per day in compensation and hotels” for the five-day period.

A week ago, CrowdStrike blamed a bug in an update that allowed its cybersecurity systems to push bad data out to millions of customer computers, setting off the global tech outage that grounded flights, took TV broadcasts off air and disrupted banks, hospitals and retailers.

Among airlines, Delta was by far the hardest hit hard by the outage, having to cancel thousands of flights, because key systems were crippled by the incident.

Disney plans new round of job cuts in TV division

Walt Disney Co. is planning a fresh round of job cuts in its TV division, part of an effort to reduce costs in a shrinking part of its business, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The company is eliminating about 140 jobs, or about 2% of staff at Disney Entertainment Television, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information. The cuts will fall the hardest on networks like NatGeo and Freeform, which are scaling back their programming, as well as the company’s ABC stations.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger has cut billions of dollars in costs at Disney and eliminated over 8,000 positions since returning to the top job there in November 2022. The company is trying to balance the need for investments in streaming with the rapid decline of its cable networks, which still generate billions of dollars in profit.

As part of the cuts, NatGeo will lose about 13% of its staff, the people said. The network, named after the iconic magazine, has already pared back its scripted programming to a handful of shows such as Genius: MLK/X.

Freeform, formerly known as ABC Family, has historically programmed shows like Grown-ish and Pretty Little Liars for a teen audience. But teens have largely abandoned cable for streaming.

Disney is also eliminating jobs in its marketing and publicity teams.

Compiled from Associated Press and Bloomberg report.