Takata Massive Airbag Recall Intensifies

We have already covered the massive recall caused by the defective airbags manufactured by Takata, but it seems the problem is even worse than we initially thought. This morning, General Motors (which has installed Takata airbags in the 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe and Saab 9-2X) sent warning letters to the owners of affected vehicles, asking them not to let anyone ride in the front passenger seat until the airbags are replaced.

GM is far from the only manufacturer with this problem: 14 manufacturers had contracts with Takata to supply airbags, including BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.

Under certain conditions, the inflator may be defective, and may over-inflate the airbag and break the deployment mechanism, sending metal shrapnel into the face of the occupants. This can be deadly to a vehicle's passengers (a Florida woman was found dead in her car after a head-on crash. Since she had deep cuts on her neck, the police first assumed she was murdered, before determining that metal parts flew out of her airbags and killed her).

Manufacturers are concentrating their efforts on the southern United States, as it seems as though high humidity is the leading cause of the airbag failures. We (Canada) are currently not touched, but there is no doubt that owners of cars equipped with Takata airbags would be reassured if the parts were changed as soon as possible.

Here is a list of all affected vehicles:

BMW: 627,615 potentially affected vehicles

2000 – 2005 3 Series Sedan

2000 – 2006 3 Series Coupe

2000 – 2005 3 Series Sports Wagon

2000 – 2006 3 Series Convertible

2001 – 2006 M3 Coupe

2001 – 2006 M3 Convertible

Chrysler: 371,309 potentially affected vehicles

2003 – 2008 Dodge Ram 1500

2005 – 2008 Dodge Ram 2500

2006 – 2008 Dodge Ram 3500

2006 – 2008 Dodge Ram 4500

2008 – Dodge Ram 5500

2005 – 2008 Dodge Durango

2005 – 2008 Dodge Dakota

2005 – 2008 Chrysler 300

2007 – 2008 Chrysler Aspen

Ford: 58,669 potentially affected vehicles

2004 – Ranger

2005 – 2006 GT

2005 – 2007 Mustang

General Motors: undetermined number of potentially affected vehicles

2003 – 2005 Pontiac Vibe

2005 – Saab 9-2X

Honda: 5,051,364 potentially affected vehicles

2001 – 2007 Honda Accord

2001 – 2002 Honda Accord

2001 – 2005 Honda Civic

2002 – 2006 Honda CR-V

2003 – 2011 Honda Element23

2002 – 2004 Honda Odyssey

2003 – 2007 Honda Pilot

2006 – Honda Ridgeline

2003 – 2006 Acura MDX

2002 – 2003 Acura TL/CL

2005 – Acura RL

Nissan: 694,626 potentially affected vehicles

2001 – 2003 Nissan Maxima

2001 – 2003 Nissan Pathfinder

2002 – 2003 Nissan Sentra

2001 – 2003 Infiniti I30/I35

2002 – 2003 Infiniti QX4

2003 – Infiniti FX

Mazda: 64,872 potentially affected vehicles

2003 – 2007 Mazda6

2006 – 2007 MazdaSpeed6

2004 – 2008 Mazda RX-8

2004 – 2005 MPV

2004 – B-Series Truck

Mitsubishi: 11,985 potentially affected vehicles

2004 – 2005 Lancer

2006 – 2007 Raider

 

Nissan: 694,626 potentially affected vehicles

2001 – 2003 Nissan Maxima

2001 – 2004 Nissan Pathfinder

2002 – 2004 Nissan Sentra

2001 – 2004 Infiniti I30/I35

2002 – 2003 Infiniti QX4

2003 – 2005 Infiniti FX35/FX45

Subaru: 17,516 potentially affected vehicles

2003 – 2005 Baja

2003 – 2005 Legacy

2003 – 2005 Outback

2004 – 2005 Impreza

Toyota : 877,000 total number of potentially affected vehicles

2002 – 2005 Lexus SC

2002 – 2005 Toyota Corolla

2003 – 2005 Toyota Corolla Matrix

2002 – 2005 Toyota Sequoia

2003 – 2005 Toyota Tundra

Share on Facebook

More on the subject

RecallsA Huge Cross-Brand Recall over Third-Party Airbags
What do Ford, Mazda, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Chrysler and Nissan have in common (besides the fact that they all build 4-wheeled vehicles powered by gasoline engines)? Well, it would seem they all bought airbags from a manufacturer in Japan that may have quickly skipped over some important details when the …
NewsDevelopments In The Takata Controversy
A short while ago, Takata got itself into the middle of a controversy: some of their airbags (which are standard on a disturbingly large number of cars) were equipped with a defective inflator. When vehicles equipped with these airbags are in a humid area for long enough, in the event …
RecallsTakata Will Recall ALL Its Airbags
New developments in Takata’s disastrous airbag odyssey: after being forced to recall more than 7 million defective airbags due to a faulty inflator, the manufacturer has now been forced to recall the entirety of their production run in the United States. So far, Takata has tried to contain their recall …
RecallsTakata Recall: A Meeting Between Automakers
Since the massive Takata safety defect came to light, things have been going downhill: the Japanese equipment manufacturer tried to deny, and then limit the recalls to an absolute minimum when the government asked them to repair their defective products. The NHTSA then forced Takata to recall every single defective …
NewsHonda Has To Pay A $70 Million Fine
After a thorough investigation, the NHTSA has just announced their verdict on Honda’s responsibility regarding some missing accident and repair reports: the Japanese manufacturer has been accused of having failed to report more than 1,700 cases of injuries and warrantied repair. Honda will have to pay a fine of 70 …
RecallsTakata Airbags: More And More Recalls
The Takata airbag recall is still ongoing, with a new wave of vehicles to be recalled. More than 10 million cars worldwide have been added to the list of vehicles equipped with a problematic airbag. As a reminder, Japanese safety equipment manufacturer Takata was accused of selling a defective airbag …
Recalls2015: Year Of The Recalls
Last year was a big year for the automotive recalls. Pretty much every manufacturer had a big one that came up: GM faced a lot of bad publicity for its faulty ignitions switches, Volkswagen is still working on fixing its Dieselgate scandal and pretty much everyone was affected by Takata's …
RecallsTakata Recall: Another 12 Million Vehicles Added to the List
Here's yet another chapter in the Takata airbag scandal: no less than 12 million vehicles have been added to the recalled vehicles list. In case you weren’t aware, many manufacturers were contracting Takata to manufacture their airbags. During the process, Takata used a chemical that degrade over time. In an …