Four automakers – Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi – are still selling new cars equipped with unsafe Takata airbags, according to a report released by a leading United States senator Wednesday.
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The senate commerce committee says Toyota, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler and Mitsubishi are allowed to equip models already under production with the defective airbags, but regulators say they must be recalled by 2018.
The latest order from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration requires new cars have newer airbags which would then presumably pose less risk. Audi is part of the Volkswagen group.
Bonus: If you don’t own a Ford but want to know if your auto, SUV or truck is on the Takata airbag recall list, input your vehicles’ VIN numbers on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s site.
“You have got only three or four global suppliers of air bags, and they have only got so much capacity”, said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. The affected vehicles include the 2016-2017 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, 2016 Volkswagen CC, 2016 Audi TT and 2017 Audi R8. Honda, meanwhile, said it has three current models that have Takata air bags that are different than the type that have been recalled, but the company said no new Hondas or Acuras are being built in the US with the faulty parts that have been found to rupture. The Japanese air bag maker doubled a recall of its air bags in May to 33.8 million, making it the largest recall in US history. Inflators with a chemical drying agent, however, have been linked to no deaths or injuries.
Honda Motor Co., Takata’s largest customer, initially said 17,000 new vehicles were equipped with air-bag inflaters lacking a drying agent, the report said.
This means people buying new cars, cars that aren’t even for sale yet, will have to eventually bring their cars in for replacement airbags. They are suspected in 13 deaths worldwide and more than 100 injuries. Importantly, these full-size trucks and SUVs have features and attributes that minimize the maximum temperature to which the inflator will be exposed, such as large interior volumes and standard solar-absorbing windshields and side glass. Their next step is to prioritize recalling vehicles that were sold in high-humidity areas, and the oldest cars should be fixed first.
The recall started with only 7.8 million affected vehicles but has ballooned to somewhere between 63 and 68 million vehicles.
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Takata spokesman Jared Levy said in a statement the company is “working aggressively” and has produced more than 15 million replacement kits.
