Over 2 Million Vehicles Affected By New Air Bag Recall — Is Yours One Of Them?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a second recall Saturday for more than 2 million Toyota, General Motors, and Honda vehicles for an air bag defect that could cause the bags to deploy while the vehicles are being driven, even though they may have been repaired earlier in a separate recall.
According to the Star Tribune, the new recall will fully replace the faulty electronic control unit that was only partially replaced in the previous recall. The replacements should be available to all affected vehicles by the end of 2015.
NHTSA is still urging owners whose vehicles were under the first air bag recall to have the partial unit installed if they have not done so yet, even if they have to return to have the full unit replaced under the new recall.
“Even though it’s a temporary solution until the new remedy is available,” NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said. Consumers “and their families will be safer if they take the time to learn if their vehicle is covered and follow their manufacturers’ instructions.”
The vehicles were thought to have been fixed under the first recall between 2012 and 2014, but according to Reuters, 39 cars have been reported as experiencing the issue after the repairs. There have been about 400 total cases of inadvertent air bag deployment in the affected vehicles, but the NHTSA spokesman says there have no know deaths, only minor injuries.
However, a Houston, Texas ABC affiliate, ABC13, reported that a local man’s death on January 18 of this year may be the sixth linked to the original air bag recall. Federal regulators are looking into the case.
The NHTSA announcement comes the day after the Houston man’s family filed a lawsuit against Takata, the manufacturer of the defective air bags in the first recall.
NBC News reports that the latest recall includes early 2000s models of Acura MDX, Dodge Viper, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Honda Odyssey, Pontiac Vibe, and Toyota Matrix and Avalon.
GM has especially taken a big hit with safety recalls in the past few years. The Inquisitr reported earlier this week that the besieged automaker is being hit by lawsuits alleging liability in at lease 50 deaths due to faulty ignition switches that were not recalled until a decade after the company became aware of a dangerous defect.
To find out if your vehicle is part of the air bag recall — or any other recalls — you can check by the VIN number here.
Vehicle owners with questions about the recall or those wish to report a possible vehicle safety issue, can also call NHTSA’s Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236.
[Image via WABC]
