In fact, he said, numerous roughly 1 million vehicles that have already had airbags replaced may need to have those replacement airbags replaced as well.
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The fact that the Takata recall is still growing suggests that there won’t be a solution to the problem for years to come, said Karl Brauer senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. Similarly 2007-2014 Honda Ridgeline, 2009-2014 Honda Fit and the 2009-2014 Acura TL are also affected. Older models can experience a failure of their airbag control units, which means the supplemental restraint system, or SRS, may not deploy in a crash. In addition to being hit by Continental’s recall, it was the hardest-hit manufacturer in the Takata recall. Affected vehicles include those made by Chrysler, Honda, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Volkswagen.
Automakers will replace the computers at no cost to owners, according to documents.
The recent death of a SC man highlighted the risks posed by cars that contain Takata air bags, but have not been recalled.
Net income climbed to 8.1 billion yen ($69 million) in the quarter through December from 2.8 billion yen a year earlier, on the back of higher sales in the USA and Asia, Takata said Friday.
On Tuesday, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey urged NHTSA to recall all cars with Takata inflators. The safety devices have been found in some cases to explode with too much force, rupturing and shooting metal and plastic parts at vehicle occupants.
– Early 2011: Continental learned of two inadvertent deployments of air bags, one in a Daimler vehicle and the other in a vehicle made by Fiat Chrysler.
On Wednesday night, Honda said it would recall 364,787 2008 to 2010 Accord sedans worldwide because of the issue. The company reported revenues of around $44 billion and employs more than 200,000 people with operations in 53 countries.
Honda has been Takata’s largest customer for air bags and owns a minority interest in the Japanese supplier. At this stage the list of vehicles is unknown, but it’s believed the Honda Accord, Dodge Journey and some Mercedes-Benz C-Class models could be affected.
The U.S. safety investigation is still under way. Honda will not have enough parts for replacement for all vehicles until autumn.
– July 21, 2015: Continental determined the power supply component in the air bag control module had malfunctioned.
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Honda said it would notify owners about the problem, but fix parts won’t be available until fall.
