That’s why replacement parts are being targeted to areas such as the U.S. Gulf Coast, although numerous cars have been recalled nationwide.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the decision “follows the agency’s confirmation of the root cause behind the inflators’ propensity to rupture”.
Still, the government said, it will take until the end of 2019 to finish the recalls, fast enough to catch the suspect inflators before they can burst and spew shrapnel into drivers and passengers.
Honda Motor Co. said two fatal crashes in Malaysia involved ruptured airbag inflators made by Takata Corp., bringing the global number of deaths linked to the defective devices to 13 as the US ordered the Japanese supplier to widen the scale of its recalls.
At this point, essentially every airbag inflator Takata has ever made that doesn’t include a moisture-absorbing chemical known as a desiccant has been recalled.
The airbag recalls could eventually grow to include all Takata inflators using ammonium nitrate including those with a drying agent, which could involve almost 70 million vehicles in the end. At least 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide have been blamed on the Takata parts. Two more fatalities in Malaysia were confirmed Wednesday. “The science now clearly shows these inflators can become unsafe over time”.
Japanese auto parts maker Takata is facing another round of recalls for its airbags.
Takata must file new defect reports starting May 16 covering 35-40 million additional inflators that will lead to recalls by the automakers.
NHTSA says this latest expansion will occur in phases between May 2016 and December 2019, with the first recalls to be determined by the age of the inflators and their exposure to high humidity and temperatures. NHTSA will be working with automakers to get more of the cars fixed and take its own steps, he said.
Rosekind said Takata’s cooperation in the investigation suggests the company has “turned a corner” toward implementing a new safety culture. Drivers will receive notices when it’s time for their repairs. To check if your auto is under recall, go to safercar.gov. VIN numbers of the newly recalled vehicles will be added in the next few weeks.
“We are now talking about a large percentage of the air bags in the USA vehicle population”, said NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind. He expects the company to file for bankruptcy and emerge as a smaller corporation specializing in seat belts, electronics and air bag assemblies without inflators.
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There are already tens of millions of cars that have been identified as needing new airbags, but NHTSA has not been able to provide a precise number of affected vehicles.
