The global crisis involving the defective Takata airbags continues, as the company has acknowledged that a defect exists in its air bag inflators. Takata has agreed to a nation-wide U.S. recall of certain types of driver and passenger side air bag inflators.
According to the airbag manufacturer, the inflators were made with a propellant that can degrade over time and has led to ruptures that have been blamed for 6 deaths worldwide. The action expands the number of vehicles to be recalled for defective Takata inflators to nearly 34 million. This is possibly the largest auto recall campaign in U.S. history.
The actions expands from regional recalls of Takata passenger-side inflators, currently limited to areas of high absolute humidity, to nationwide recalls involving more than 16 million vehicles. They also expand the current nationwide recall of driver-side inflators to more than 17 million vehicles. It’s anticipated that the remedy of vehicles will be prioritized based upon risk, with the vehicles that present the greatest risk in terms of age and geographic location to be serviced first.
Over time, that moisture causes changes in 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.
