Jan. 18, 2017 –  Takata Corporation has announced that additional air bag inflator modules may be faulty, leading to another set of recalls that looks poised to further extend an already lengthy process that has affected millions of vehicles in the U.S. and around the world.

The Defect

Takata will recall non-desiccated frontal air bag inflators containing phase stabilized ammonium nitrate propellant, according to documents compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Specifically, this will include PSPI, PSPI-1.1, PSPI-2, PSPI 6, PSPI-L and SPI model inflators. These were not included in any previous recalls.

The recall will address a significant number of vehicles from multiple automakers:

• Model year 2005-2008 vehicles registered in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
• Model year 2009 vehicles registered in  Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
• Model year 2012 vehicles registered in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, as well as Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

For instance, Fiat Chrysler will recall more than 100,000 trucks and SUVs from the 2009 and 2010 model years that have these inflators installed, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Takata believes that prolonged exposure to high heat, humidity and multiple temperature swings can cause the propellant in these inflators to degrade. If activated, the inflators may rupture, causing metal fragments to travel through the airbag at high speeds and strike occupants. To date, as many as 16 people have been killed worldwide as a result of this defect, and about 180 have been injured.

Timeline of Events

• Nov. 3, 2015 – Takata and the NHTSA entered into a consent order to resolve certain issues that had arisen during the ongoing investigation over the defective air bag inflators. The purpose of this order was to further identify and control risks.
• May 4, 2016 – Takata and the NHTSA amended their consent order, based on recent findings that identified the PSAN inflators as capable of reaching dangerous levels of degradation that could result in shrapnel emanating during launch. The NHTSA ordered Takata to file defect reports.
• May 16, 2016 – Takata submitted its reports as requested.
• Jan. 3, 2017 – Takata completed the most recent report, specified by the amended consent order, which deals with the most recent revelations regarding defective air bags.

Resolution

In many cases, vehicles owners may not be able to have this problem resolved immediately. Takata reports that replacement parts simply aren’t available for many of the vehicles that have been affected. The manufacturer will work with automakers to ensure each vehicle gets an appropriate remedy, and will communicate with customers so they know to get replacement inflators as soon as they are available. This will be done free of charge.

In a broader sense, overall resolution of the Takata defects may take many more years. For instance, CNN Money reports that federal safety regulators think it may take until 2023 for all recalled air bags to be repaired. The main challenge is that few recalls address every single affected vehicle – while the NHTSA considers this to be the goal in this case.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is attempting to speed up the recall of Takata air bags, which so far are believed to have been responsible for 180 injuries and 11 deaths in the U.S.

Though automakers have already recalled 46 Takata air bag inflators in 26 million vehicles across the U.S., the NHTSA just issued an amended order that will set a timetable for when repairs must be carried out. Under the rule, automakers will have to notify the agency when they have enough replacement parts to begin making repairs.

This will still be a lengthy process. The NHTSA’s most recent timeline calls for the final batch of repairs to begin by September 2020.

Detroit, MI – Oct. 18, 2016 – BMW announced that the company is recalling an additional 4,000 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada that have problems with the air bag inflators made by automotive parts manufacturer, Takata, according to the Wall Street Journal. The recall is for 2014-2015 X5s and 2015 X3s and X5s. BMW has not been the only car manufactuer that has had recall issues as a result of the Takata air bag components, however. The Takata air bag recall has been going on for quite some time now. Here is a timeline of events:

May 19, 2015

The U.S. Department of Transportation urged parts manufacturer, Takata, to recall BMW, Chrysler, Daimler Trucks, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota vehicles that have defects with their frontal driver and side passenger air bag inflators. Up to this point, the defect had been responsible for six deaths. About 34 million vehicles were expected to be affected by the recall.

January 22, 2016

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration made a couple of announcements, neither or which were positive. The agency announced that there would be be additional recalls of about 5 million vehicles made by Audi, BMW, Daimler Vans, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, Saab and Volkswagen. This came as a result of other, more saddening news of the ninth fatality in the U.S. (10th worldwide) as a result of the failed air bag inflators. The NHTSA said that a 2006 Ford Ranger involved in a crash in South Carolina shed more light on issues with the components of the air bag inflator.

February 12, 2016

Takata issued another recall of more vehicles, including BMW Daimler Vans, Sprinter Vans (labeled Mercedes-Benz, Dodge and Freightliner), Ford, Honda (and Acura), Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen with defective air bag inflators.

March 24, 2016

One week ahead of a March 31st deadline, BMW told to the NHTSA it would be unable to meet the deadline to supply sufficient parts to meet the need of fixing faulty inflators. The agency amended the deadline for BMW to have working parts by August 31, 2016, instead.

May 4, 2016

Nearly a year after the first round of recalls was issued by Takata, the recalls continued to expand to cover more defective air bags in various vehicles. Up to this point, the faulty Takata air bag inflators were responsible for 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S. alone. The parts manufacturer had successfully recalled nearly 29 million vehicles. But the expansion called for the recall of an additional 35-40 million potentially affected vehicles.

September 24, 2016

A driver in Malaysia was killed in a car accident. Though there are still investigations of the Honda underway, professionals heavily suspect that air bags from Takata were the reason for the malfunction during impact. If investigators do prove that the air bags were behind the driver’s death, it would mark the 14th death since the issues began more than one year ago, according to the Car Connection. Across the world in the U.S., Takata began facing more and more legal trouble. The U.S. Department of Justice publicly stated that Takata mishandled the air bag defect.