Two deaths and at least four injuries have been linked to such explosions.
The federal lawsuit, filed May 24 in San Francisco, names ARC Automotive Inc. of Knoxville, TN, which made the inflators and sold them to air bag manufacturers. The air bag makers, in turn, sold them to General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen, which are named in the lawsuit, too.
The five plaintiffs are the owners of vehicles with ARC inflators who contend the defective air bag parts were not disclosed when they made their purchases.