Takata admits airbag defects – airbag inflator recall set to double to nearly 34 million vehicles in the US

airbag

Yet more news concerning improperly-manufactured Takata airbags – over in the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Takata has announced that the parts manufacturer’s recall on defective airbag inflators is set to expand to nearly 34 million vehicles in the US.

This will effectively double the current number of affected vehicles that have been recalled in North America. Takata has acknowledged that a defect exists in its air bag inflators, and has agreed to a national recall of certain types of driver and passenger side airbag inflators.

The inflators were assembled with propellant tablets that can degrade over time. Originally, it was reported that these propellants were affected by exposure to moisture, which changes the structure of the chemical propellant that ignites when an air bag deploys – the degraded propellant ignites too quickly, producing excess pressure that causes the inflator to rupture and sends metal shards into the passenger cabin that can lead to serious injury or death.

Testing and investigation by Takata, auto manufacturers and independent researchers have not yet established a definitive root cause of the inflator malfunctions, but the NHTSA’s analysis of test results and engineering reports from independent organisations points to moisture infiltrating the defective inflators over extended periods of time as a factor.

SRS-Airbag

The current action expands regional recalls of Takata passenger-side inflators, currently limited to areas of high absolute humidity, to nationwide recalls in the US involving more than 16 million vehicles. They also expand the current nationwide recall of driver-side inflators to more than 17 million vehicles.

The expanded recall broadens the vehicle list, and affected automakers include General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and BMW, on top of Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi, which are all anticipated to detail the list of affected models in the days to come. The NHTSA says that the remedy of vehicles will be prioritised based upon risk, with the vehicles that present the greatest risk in terms of age and geographic location to be serviced first.

The agency has already held informal discussions with auto makers and parts suppliers in an effort to coordinate one of the largest and most complex product recalls in history. The issue of replacing the defective airbags in rapid fashion has been hampered by the limited supplies of replacement parts from Takata and other parts manufacturers such as Daicel and Autoliv.

Closer to home, Honda Australia and Nissan Australia yesterday announced that they were recalling 130,000 and 102,000 vehicles respectively over the Takata airbag issue. On the local front, a source at Honda Malaysia has said that the company is set to issue a recall sometime later this week – Honda Motor Co had earlier said that it would announce regional recalls locally, so it appears these are starting to flow out.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • lithium on May 20, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    MALAYSIA – honda, toyota, bmw, mazda etc, pls recall ALL takata equipped cars from year 2000 to 2011 and replace ALL the airbags. Stop giving stupid answers like only certain batch affected or only driver side etc. Unless you can prove the airbag is NOT by takata just replace it!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 0
    • Same L0rrrr on May 20, 2015 at 1:49 pm

      We can’t recall all cars in once, therefore you will see waves of recall. However NO ONE (Toyota) is killed due to the defect.

      No matter how much money we gonna spend, we will.

      See the contrast between our commitment and VW’s to DSG?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 17
      • answerme on May 20, 2015 at 5:38 pm

        You said once, if you don’t do checking up that doesn’t mean you are free from diabetes

        And now you contradicted your words here that you tried to say if no people are killed that mean it is safe enough?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 1
      • kadajawi (Member) on May 20, 2015 at 10:26 pm

        Defective airbags kill people, defective DSG only kills wallets.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2
      • creep on May 21, 2015 at 2:47 pm

        haha. on ur face brada! keep it up and lick ur toyoto.
        all cars got problems. ford also got gearbox problemo. so what? hahaha

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • Edmund on Jun 22, 2015 at 10:05 pm

        As long it’s a Toyota or a honda, air bag explode cause death also no problem, just as long it’s not a reliable n cool kimchi with Low rv

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Annoynimouse on May 20, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    It’s like carrying hand grenades in your cabin. Hope they resolve this issue.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 0
  • Areyousure on May 20, 2015 at 12:21 pm

    Even sushi is not safe now
    Toyota/ Honda/ Nissan – skip
    VW – bad RV
    Ford – bad RV
    Kimchis – bad RV
    Peugeot – bad RV
    Audi/ BMW/ Merz/ Proton/ Perodua – maybe …

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 13
  • presna (Member) on May 20, 2015 at 1:49 pm

    This is just a load of bs, there was a fatality even in Malaysia and why aren’t Malaysian authorities taking action or at least making some statements instead of waiting for the auto manufacturers to do something?
    I really wish someone would just start a lawsuit over these manufacturers delaying any recall just to protect their bottom-line figures…

    P.S. I really hope Takata goes bankrupt for this…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 0
    • Untung Manyak Wang on May 20, 2015 at 2:50 pm

      http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/7312:JP

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 2
    • tougeke70 on May 20, 2015 at 3:06 pm

      Honda Malaysia already send official statement for my Honda City 2003 model. In the process of changing airbag now. Where you heard that manufacturers are delaying recall?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 4
      • lithium on May 20, 2015 at 3:42 pm

        http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/19/news/companies/takata-recall/

        Read the article – in US it is recalling cars from 2000-2011 so you tell me if honda malaysia’s selective recall is enough? and why recall in wave? if they do not have sufficient stock, i rather they remove the takata shitty airbag from the car than to drive with a “granade”(like one of the poster said).

        The 34 MILLION cars recalled is just in the US and it is like 1 in every 7 cars on US’s road to be recalled.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 1
  • Move the hq to Msia and change company name to takapa.buy some land from some investment board and u will be safe and protected.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
  • Jimmy on May 20, 2015 at 5:19 pm

    So, is it lack of technology/faulty design, or intentional cost optimiation?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Pautan on May 21, 2015 at 7:52 am

    Anyone know which airbags does Perodua use? Is it Takata too like its father and mother?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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