We have been reporting on a series of auto recalls over the years in order to help drivers avoid accidents. In recent years, reports concerning the Takata air bags have often scared us, prompting us to alert you here in this blog about the risks associated with the defective air bags. Recently, the Japanese company added an extra 3.3 million of faulty air bags to the list of recalled units, prompting us to worry that several of our readers may own one of the impacted cars.
According to the reports, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Audi, Daimler Vans, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Jaguar-Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Tesla, and Nissan have all produced cars that have been impacted by the additional recall.
Vehicles impacted are from the 2009, 2010, and 2013 years. As companies discuss the matter with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, they say that the list with specific models and other information will be released soon.
Impacted air bag modules work by using the chemical ammonium nitrate, which created an explosion to trigger the air bag inflation. However, since the chemical in these air bag modules can deteriorate over time or under certain circumstances, the chemical may burn too fast and the metal canister will blow up, pushing metal shrapnel into the car’s cabin.
Worldwide, this horrific issue has been responsible for the deaths of 20 people and for other 180 injuries. And it’s because the risk of injuries and death is so high that we must do all in our power to make sure that all recalled vehicles are repaired promptly.
In the U.S., at least 19 automakers have vehicles that have been impacted. At least 42 million cars have been impacted overall. After the reports and the accidents, the company suffered a criminal conviction and has now gone into bankruptcy protection.
We hope that all impacted vehicles are repaired soon. To those of you who are concerned that your vehicle may have been impacted, check with the automaker to verify whether your model is one of the cars that have been added to this recall campaign.
For more on this expansion and how automakers are dealing with the recall, follow this link.
