“But it’s unconscionable that they are putting these knowingly defective airbags into brand new cars”.
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The Senate Commerce Committee said Toyota, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler and Mitsubishi are allowed to equip models already under production with the defective airbags.
Legally, automakers can sell the vehicles but will have to recall defective parts by the end of 2018.
The vehicles being sold that will later need to be recalled include the 2016-2017 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, 2016 Volkswagen CC, 2016 Audi TT and 2017 Audi R8.
An estimated 60 million inflators in US vehicles may eventually be recalled, or about one out of every four cars, the report noted.
More than 16 million vehicles have been recalled in the United States by 15 automakers since last week.
Certain Takata airbags can inflate with too much force and at least 11 deaths worldwide are related to the defect.
Auto makers recalled more than four million additional vehicles with faulty Takata Corp. air bags, capping the first wave in a dramatic expansion of the largest automotive safety campaign in USA history.
More than half-a-million defective airbags are said to have been installed on new cars now on dealer lots, awaiting sale to unsuspecting customers. Moisture contamination of the ammonium nitrate propellant is one factor officials have identified as a reason why Takata inflators have ruptured.
Nelson said Toyota “did not provide specific years and models”, but he said the Japanese company told him it “expects to produce approximately 175,000 unspecified vehicles with the defective Takata inflators between March 2016 and July 2017”.
The safety campaigns in the US are part of a massive expansion disclosed in May requiring auto makers to recall up to an additional 40 million air bags that risk exploding and sending metal shards flying in vehicle cabins.
It takes years for the airbags to degrade to the point that they’re at risk of exploding, presumably depending on climate (the more humid, the quicker the degradation).
Ford is recalling about 1,896,443 automobiles as part of a broadened Takata recall to change malfunctioning passenger-side frontal airbag inflators.
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Customers who want to know if their vehicle is included in this recall can visit Ford.com and click on safety recalls at the bottom of the page and enter their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The offending automakers are proceeding to sell cars with the non-desiccated ammonium nitrate, knowing full well that they’ll eventually have to be replaced.
