Takata recall could hit tens of millions more cars in US

Germany’s three largest automakers said earlier this month they would recall 2.5 million vehicles in the United States equipped with the air bags, the latest in a long-running safety crisis involving the Japanese automotive supplier.

If you drive a vehicle with a Takata airbag, it may not be time to breathe easy yet: The Japanese manufacturer may be forced to recall an additional 70 to 90 million airbag inflators. To date, 14 different automakers have recalled almost 28 million inflators in 24 million vehicles throughout the region.

Reuters first reported the development Monday.

The recall now covers about 29 million airbags in 19 million vehicles in the U.S. Those problems, the former managers said, make it hard for the company and regulators to pinpoint which inflators – among tens of millions – pose a danger. – Gordon Trowbridge Rather than deploying normally in a auto accident, the defective airbags can explode and spray vehicle occupants with lethal amounts of shrapnel. That would, of course, mean more headaches for American motorists and huge costs for Takata and for the automakers that used its airbags.

Anonymous former Takata employees told Reuters that as many as 285 million Takata inflators with ammonium nitrate-the cheaper propellant Takata switched to in 1999 and kept using, despite repeated safety concerns by its own engineers-could be affected. Although investigators have found no root cause for the airbag malfunctions amid years of examining the problem, they believe the chemical may not be safe.

In November, Takata reach an agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to pay a $70m (£50m) penalty as part of a settlement that included its commitment to stop making inflators that use ammonium nitrate by 2018.

In a regulatory filing, Takata confirmed the inflator ruptured in the crash and that it was made in Monclova in 2005, but the company did not specifically link the failure to Knight’s death. As part of the strategy, Takata explores the idea of consolidating production plants in Europe and reducing overseas staff, local news agency Kyodo News said last week.

The Associated Press last week cited unidentified experts as saying there could be as many as 50 million Takata air bag inflators in cars that have yet to be called back for repairs.