If you think the Takata airbag saga is already over, think again. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA based in the U.S. is now opening a new investigation into 30 million vehicles due to possibly defective airbags.
The vehicles, produced by nearly two dozen automakers including Ford, Honda, Toyota, GM, Subaru, Nissan, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Jaguar Land Rover could potentially have defective Takata airbag inflators. The inflators can explode, and in rare instances, send deadly metal fragments flying into the face of the vehicle occupants.
The investigation is said to cover 2001 to 2019 model year vehicles. Automakers were alerted to the investigation, which is not yet public.
The NHTSA document said that the 30 million vehicles include both vehicles that had the inflators installed when they were manufactured as well as some inflators that were used in prior recall repairs.
The new investigation is centered around inflators with a “desiccant” or drying agent. According to the document, NHTSA said there have been no reported ruptures of vehicles on the roads with air bag inflators with the drying agent.
Over the last decade, more than 100 million Takata airbag inflators have been recalled in what became the biggest auto safety callback in history. This led to Takata filing for bankruptcy. It then sold its assets to Key Safety Systems which is now part of Chinese-owned Joyson Safety Systems.
There have been at least 28 known deaths worldwide tied to faulty Takata inflators and more than 400 injuries.
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