General Motors Company GM announced that it is recalling another 400 vehicles with defective Takata airbags. The automaker stated that the side airbag inflators in these vehicles can explode, shooting metal fragments, in case of a car crash. The vehicles covered under the recall mainly include 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, Malibu and Camaro, Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac XTS and GMC Terrain vehicles.
On Oct 5, one side airbag inflator exploded with considerable force during testing at a Takata plant in Mexico. Takata informed General Motors, and the automaker tracked down such inflators in 414 vehicles in North America. Previously, faulty Takata airbags were associated only with old models and front airbags. However, now the problem is being found in newer vehicles as well.
General Motors’ dealers will repair the affected vehicles. In addition, the automaker will offer loaner cars to the owners of vehicles with defective air bags. Meanwhile, there have been no reports of causalities related to this issue.
General Motors is the second automaker which reported rupturing of the side airbag in new models. In Jun 2015, Volkswagen AG VLKAY reported that the left side airbag of its vehicle inflated with too much force near St. Louis. According to U.S regulators, more automakers and newer models are likely to be recalled due to this defect.
Automakers are facing considerable problems owing to the defective Takata airbags. Earlier, 11 automakers, including the likes of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. HMC, BMW, Toyota Motor Corporation TM and Nissan, had announced recalls due to the malfunctioning airbag inflators. There have been cases of 8 fatal accidents and 100 injuries because of the flawed airbags. To date, 23.4 million vehicles have been recalled due to faulty Takata airbags.
Last month, U.S. regulators considered adding seven more automakers to the list of companies requiring recalls for defective Takata airbags. Takata recently informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it supplies airbags with ammonium nitrate propellant to these automakers. The propellant is touted to be one of the possible reasons for the malfunctioning airbags.
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