Takata Airbag Recall Could Expand to Include Another 85M Vehicles

The Takata airbag recall could expand to include another 85 million vehicles in the U.S.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has said that there are nearly 85 million potentially defective Takata airbags still on the road today that could eventually be recalled if the safety company isn’t able to prove that they are safe. From that total, 43.4 million are passenger-side inflators while 26.9 million are side airbag inflators. The remaining 14.5 million are driver-side inflators.

The Takata airbag recall has already included 28.8 million vehicles in the U.S. after it was discovered that the faulty inflators could explode with too much force, spraying metal shrapnel inside the vehicles and seriously injuring occupants. This has led to dozens of deaths globally.

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Worldwide, more than 50 million vehicles have been recalled as a result of faulty Takata airbags and under an agreement last year, the company has until 2019 to prove that all unrecalled airbag inflators are safe.

Japanese automaker Honda has recalled the most vehicles to date on the issue and has said that it would cooperate with authorities if additional recalls are necessary. Some automakers have already said they will stop using Takata airbag inflators in new vehicles and have been sourcing replacement inflators from other suppliers.

[Source: Reuters]