The auto industry is under pressure due to a series of recalls by different companies. Safety recalls dent the brand image of a company and add to expenses. Recently, six automakers announced that they will be recalling around 2.5 million more vehicles in the U.S. due to faulty Takata airbag inflators.
Of the total vehicles recalled, General Motors Company GM is recalling 1.9 million SUVs and trucks. Volkswagen AG VLKAY has issued a recall of 217,000 vehicles. Daimler AG’s DDAIF Mercedes-Benz USA unit will be recalling 200,000 units, while Daimler Vanc USA will recall 5,100 units. BMW AG has announced the recall of 92,000 vehicles. Tata Motors Limited’s TTM Jaguar Land Rover brand will recall 54,000 vehicles. Ford Motor Co. F also issued a recall of around 1.9 million vehicles for Takata inflators just one day before this recall announcement by other automakers.
Last month, Takata declared another 35−40 million airbag inflators with ammonium nitrate as defective. Following this announcement, around 15 automakers went on to recall 16.4 million vehicles in the U.S. To date, more than 100 million vehicles have been recalled globally due to flawed Takata airbag inflators.
Takata airbag inflators explode with excessive force, throwing metal fragments into a vehicle at passengers and the driver. These defective airbag inflators have been linked to 13 deaths worldwide and more than 100 injuries. While 11 deaths have been confirmed to be the result of these inflators, authorities are still investigating the causes behind two deaths in Malaysia.
According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), new airbag inflators are not immediately hazardous. However, they will pose a risk to safety after years of exposure to high humidity and variation in temperatures.
Meanwhile, General Motors announced that it does not believe that there is any safety issue in the trucks and SUVs it has added to the Takata recall recently. It announced the recall only to cooperate with the NHTSA. The company has justified that none of the inflators ruptured during 44,000 crash deployments. Moreover, it claimed that the Takata inflators made for its vehicles have unique features.
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