With pressure from the Department of Transportation, Japanese supplier Takata Corporation has concluded that a defect exists in their air bag inflators, which has increased number of recalls to nearly 34 million.
The Takata air bag problems began about 10 years ago; however, it was not until recently that Takata has acknowledged that the air bags are defective. U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Fox, states that the most recent expanded recall is the most complex safety recall in United States history. The recall affects certain frontal and passenger side air bag inflators in vehicles produced by Daimler Trucks, Ford, General Motors, Honda, BMW, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.
The defective inflators were made with a propellant that can degrade over time, which may deploy improperly putting individuals in a crash at greater risk of car accident injury. Moreover, it has been reported that when the inflators deploy metal fragments can be sprayed into the vehicle, which can result in death or injury to the vehicle occupants. Previously, Takata air bags were blamed for six fatal injuries because of the excessive force by which the air bags were deployed. According to a report from the New York Times, there have been 139 injuries caused by Takata’s defective air bags, and of those 139 individuals, 30 injuries and two fatalities occurred in Honda vehicles.
Causes of Defective Air Bags still Unknown
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is still awaiting the final report of the investigation into the defective inflators. According to documents, Takata reported possible causes linked to rust and bad welds. It was reported that Takata’s Mexico plant was permitting the shipment of defective inflators six to eight times above the acceptable limit. Takata Corporation is still in the process of their investigation and has not yet reached a conclusion for the cause of the malfunctioning inflators.
NHTSA is expecting a list of affected vehicles from automakers in order to provide the American public with the appropriate information. Auto owners will be able to use their VIN numbers on the NHTSA search tool to help identify if their car is under recall. Furthermore, NHTSA urges auto owners to check periodically to see if their car appears on the list because they are anticipating manufacturers taking several weeks to have a complete list of affected vehicles.
