Another air bag problem, another 5M vehicles recalled

Honda has now issued another recall to recall back models that was fitted with the problematic Takata airbag. At least two injuries are attributed to the defect. Including the recalls announced February 3, 8.51 million Honda and Acura vehicles in the USA market have been recalled for Takata airbag inflators, the company said. In addition, another 4 million other cars and trucks could be subject to recall because they use a different type of inflator that ruptured three times in recent tests of theToyota RAV4, NHTSA said.

Continental said that fewer than 2 million vehicles in the U.S. are affected, and said it would notify automakers that installed these airbag control units in their vehicles. However, since then, the amount of accidents and the air bag ruptures have snowballed, with Honda recalling millions and millions of vehicles and Takata exposed to a large number of lawsuits and criminal investigations.

This is the latest large-scale US recall related to air bag problems.

Carmakers are grappling with another air-bag crisis sparked by Takata-made devices that explode with too much force and shoot shrapnel at occupants. Fiat Chrysler said none of the affected vehicles used air-bag inflaters equipped with ammonium nitrate, a chemical propellant linked to problems in exploding air bags made by a separate company, Takata Corp.

Honda says replacement parts won’t be available until late summer.

On Wednesday night, Honda said it would recall 364,787 2008 to 2010 Accord sedans worldwide because of the issue. This is potentially risky because air bags may not inflate during a auto crash. As a result, air bags can fail to deploy in a crash or inadvertently fire.

Fiat Chrysler said that 112,000 of its vehicles in the United States are covered by the recall, ranging from the 2009 Dodge Journey, 2008-2009 Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town and Country and the 2009 Volkswagen Routan, which it assembled for Volkswagen. (Honda) is recalling certain model year 2008-2010 Accord vehicles.

“This also means that the safety of the vehicle passengers and operators are in jeopardy and potentially face serious injury or death”, another complainant wrote.

Autoblog reports that the problem is that several vehicles carry the Takata PSDI-5 airbag inflator on the driver’s side, and this part could rupture if the airbag deploys.