Takata Airbag Recall To Go Nationwide
Initial Takata Recall
Many Florida motorists should be already be aware of a massive car recall involving vehicles equipped with Takata airbags. A variety of auto brands and vehicle models have been impacted and the recall quickly ballooned into the largest automotive parts recall in the history of the American auto industry.
The recall has been increasingly expanded to include multiple car manufacturers and an excess of six million cars. So far, the companies named in the recall are Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Subaru, Ford and General Motors.
Takata Identifies the Defect
The recall was spurred by the identification of a malfunctioning airbag mechanism that would shoot metal shards at the operator and front seat passenger if they airbag was deployed. The Takata Corp. released a report stating that the defect is the result of a charge agent in the airbag’s inflator possessing too much power. The result of this is the projectile of the metal shards inside the car.
National Expansion
Takata Corp. has identified the faulty airbag defect to be triggered by levels of high humidity in the air. Until now, the U.S. recall had been generally restricted to faulty Takata airbags in vehicles located in high humidity areas such as Florida and the Gulf Coast. So far, five deaths have been linked to the faulty air bags and worldwide more than 13 million recalls of the Takata airbags have been issued since 2008.
Last week, federal highway safety regulators called for an expansion of the Takata airbag recall to include the entire country.
“If Takata refuses, then we will take appropriate action to begin a process with Takata and the automakers to force them to take action to recall all of the affected vehicles,” said David Friedman of The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Exclusively for driver-side air bags, we have determined that we can no longer support a regional recall based solely on the areas of high temperatures and high humidity.”
Federal Officials Demand Action
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a statement that mandates all manufacturers issue a nationwide recall of any vehicle equipped with Takata airbags. Federal regulators are demanding an expansion to the recall to include all vehicles that have driver-side Takata airbags, in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
The NHTSA decided an expansion of the recall was necessary after researchers concluded that the defect with Takata airbags may not be limited only to areas with high humidity, as stated in the original reports released by Takata Corp.
NHTSA Database for Consumers
Consumers can go online to access a NHTSA database for a the list of all the models and manufacture years of the vehicles affected by the recall. Consumers should search by their VIN (vehicle identification number) to determine if their vehicle is included in the recall.
Vehicle owners may also call the NHTSA Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236. If you locate your vehicle make and model in the NHTSA database, please take your car for service immediately.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective car part, please contact the Fort Lauderdale law offices of Boone & Davis by calling 954-566-9919. We are here to help.
