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.
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It was not clear precisely how many cars are being sold with defective inflators.
For example, the Takata passenger-side airbag inflators used in these trucks and SUVs are a variant engineered specifically for these GM vehicles, and include features such as greater venting, unique propellant wafer configurations and machined steel end caps.
The report said Toyota Motor Corp 7203.T , Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV FCHA.MI , Volkswagen AG VOWG_p.DE and Mitsubishi Motors Corp 7211.T are continuing to sell vehicles with ammonium-nitrate inflators without a drying agent.
Automakers face both supply issues and in some cases engineering challenges to phase out the inflators. After finding out about the problem, Takata tested 30,000 bags and had 265 rupture because of the inflator problem. By the middle of previous year, it was the largest auto recall in history – and that was before regulators more than doubled the scope of the recall last month.
Takata Chairman and Chief Executive Shigehisa Takada has said the company has agreed to cooperate on the expanded recalls and work with US regulators and auto makers to develop long-term, orderly solutions to the safety crisis. But the cars now aren’t under recall and can be sold legally.
100 injuries and 13 deaths are a result of some faulty Takata airbags. About 300,000 of those vehicles, heavy duty pickups, already were recalled. Automakers may not disclose all new vehicles being recalled until 2019.
Ford Motor Co. announced Wednesday it is expanding its Takata air bag recalls by almost 1.9 million vehicles – and more recalls are expected later this week. According to the US Senate report, the recall affects one out of every four vehicles on the road.
Until then, cars with these inflators are safe to drive, and are better than older models without this many safety features, says the NHTSA. Models from 2011 or older in high heat and humidity areas will get first priority, followed by 2008 and older models in Southern-tier states, then 2004 and older models in the rest of the country.
The defect with these bags is that they can inflate with too much force and discharge shrapnel into the vehicles. Fiat Chrysler and Mitsubishi, two of the automakers identified in Nelson’s report, pointed out that fact when asked about the report.
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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.
