General Motors Co. is asking U.S. safety regulators to delay by a year the mandatory recall of almost 1 million vehicles with air bags made by Takata Corp., saying the designated models have not been shown to carry the same risk as others linked to deaths and injuries.
The automaker said in a filing Friday with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it has conducted tests on the inflators and concluded they are "not currently at risk of rupture." Of 44,000 deployments of Takata air bags in the group, none ruptured, according to the company.
It cited "unique design features" that make the covered air bags safer. The automaker said it has hired an expert to conduct a long-term aging study of the inflators that will take about a year to conclude.