Feds Consider Expanding Takata Airbag Recall

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said last month it was investigating a Takata airbag explosion in a 2015 Volkswagen Tiguan.

USA regulators are considering the need as well as repercussions of adding seven more automakers to the list of companies requiring recalls for defective Takata airbags, per media reports.

The Takata inflators have already killed eight people all over the world and injured hundreds of others because it can explode forcefully and release metal and shrapnel.

The seven carmakers contacted by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are reportedly Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar-Land Rover, Suzuki Motor Corp., Tesla, Volvo Trucks, Volkswagen AG and Spartan Motors Inc.

The numbers are still rising, but as of now 23.4 million airbags that were produced by Takata have been recalled. “The recalls may also grow to include inflator types that are not now within the scope of the Takata DIRs (defect information reports)”. A public meeting set for October 22 will examine the ongoing Takata investigation, and seek to answer whether NHTSA will take over management of the recalls.

The agency says it also could issue an order expanding the recalls, which now cover 11 auto and truck companies including BMW, Daimler Trucks, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.

The NHTSA is giving these companies 21 days to respond, asking them whether their vehicles have been affected and if they plan on ordering any recalls, according to Bloomberg. This “could potentially lead to overaggressive combustion or potentially cause the inflator to rupture”. As of September 1, only 4.4 million had been replaced. The German automaker said the incident was unrelated to the initial Takata problem because it was a side-impact airbag.

Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar-Land Rover and Tesla all said that their Takata air bags were not part of the current recalls.