In a significant shift, federal safety regulators on Tuesday called on automakers to conduct a nationwide recall of vehicles that contain driver’s-side airbags made by the Japanese supplier Takata.
The agency said it had yet to make a detailed list of the models or model years affected. But the expansions will affect millions of vehicles made by Ford, Honda, Chrysler, Mazda and BMW, mostly from model years 2008 or earlier, said David J. Friedman, the agency’s deputy administrator, on a conference call with reporters.
More than 14 million vehicles from 11 automakers have been recalled worldwide since 2008 over concerns about the Takata-made airbags. At least five deaths have been linked to the defect. The airbags contain a propellant that can cause them to explode when they deploy in an accident, spraying metal debris from the casing into the car’s cabin and potentially injuring the driver or passenger. Moisture is thought to make the propellant more combustible.
Mr. Friedman said that the decision to call for a nationwide recall was prompted by an airbag rupture in North Carolina in August in a 2007 Ford Mustang that injured that car’s driver. Though that model had been recalled in June, the car in North Carolina had not, because it was outside the high-humidity regions — including Florida, Hawaii, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico — targeted by recent recalls. Another rupture in a Honda vehicle this year had prompted Honda to add California to its list of regions affected by the recall.
But over the past decade, Takata inflaters in previous designs have ruptured in areas including Virginia and Oklahoma, and in central Japan.
Honda, which has been most affected by the defective airbags, said it intended to cooperate with the agency “including, as warranted by the developing investigation, expanding the recalls affecting our vehicles.”
more
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/b...-airbag-recall-to-be-extended-nationwide.html
It Looked Like a Stabbing, but Takata Airbag Was the Killer
ORLANDO, Fla. — Hien Tran lay dying in intensive care this month after a car accident, as detectives searched for clues about the apparent stab wounds in her neck.
An unlikely breakthrough arrived in the mail a week after she died from her injuries. It was a letter from Honda urging her to get her red Accord fixed, because of faulty airbags that could explode.
“The airbag,” said Tina Tran, the victim’s twin sister. “They said it was the airbag.”
Ms. Tran became at least the third death associated with the mushrooming recalls of vehicles containing defective airbags made by Takata, a Japanese auto supplier. More than 14 million vehicles from 11 automakers that contain the airbags have been recalled worldwide.
more
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/b...abbing-but-takata-air-bag-was-the-killer.html
The agency said it had yet to make a detailed list of the models or model years affected. But the expansions will affect millions of vehicles made by Ford, Honda, Chrysler, Mazda and BMW, mostly from model years 2008 or earlier, said David J. Friedman, the agency’s deputy administrator, on a conference call with reporters.
More than 14 million vehicles from 11 automakers have been recalled worldwide since 2008 over concerns about the Takata-made airbags. At least five deaths have been linked to the defect. The airbags contain a propellant that can cause them to explode when they deploy in an accident, spraying metal debris from the casing into the car’s cabin and potentially injuring the driver or passenger. Moisture is thought to make the propellant more combustible.
Mr. Friedman said that the decision to call for a nationwide recall was prompted by an airbag rupture in North Carolina in August in a 2007 Ford Mustang that injured that car’s driver. Though that model had been recalled in June, the car in North Carolina had not, because it was outside the high-humidity regions — including Florida, Hawaii, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico — targeted by recent recalls. Another rupture in a Honda vehicle this year had prompted Honda to add California to its list of regions affected by the recall.
But over the past decade, Takata inflaters in previous designs have ruptured in areas including Virginia and Oklahoma, and in central Japan.
Honda, which has been most affected by the defective airbags, said it intended to cooperate with the agency “including, as warranted by the developing investigation, expanding the recalls affecting our vehicles.”
more
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/b...-airbag-recall-to-be-extended-nationwide.html
It Looked Like a Stabbing, but Takata Airbag Was the Killer
ORLANDO, Fla. — Hien Tran lay dying in intensive care this month after a car accident, as detectives searched for clues about the apparent stab wounds in her neck.
An unlikely breakthrough arrived in the mail a week after she died from her injuries. It was a letter from Honda urging her to get her red Accord fixed, because of faulty airbags that could explode.
“The airbag,” said Tina Tran, the victim’s twin sister. “They said it was the airbag.”
Ms. Tran became at least the third death associated with the mushrooming recalls of vehicles containing defective airbags made by Takata, a Japanese auto supplier. More than 14 million vehicles from 11 automakers that contain the airbags have been recalled worldwide.
more
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/b...abbing-but-takata-air-bag-was-the-killer.html
