Airbag Recall 2015: Deaths By Takata Airbags Investigated In Toyota, Nissan, And Honda Cars

A 2015 airbag recall is being investigated by a Congressional hearing since Takata airbags have been linked to deaths and injuries when deployed within Fiat Chrysler, BMW, Mitsubishi, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Mazda, Subaru, and Honda vehicles. Authorities are not even certain that the replacement airbags being used in the airbag recall are safe, but they do believe they are at least “safer.”

In a related report by the Inquisitr, a recent Ford recall list addressed faulty door latches on the Fiesta, Fusion, and Lincoln MKZ.

Although the 2015 airbag recall is being issued by all three Japanese auto companies, no one is sure exactly what to do about the defects.

“The biggest problem here is both carmakers and Takata have not specified the direct reason for the defect,” said Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at researcher Carnorama in Tokyo. “They can’t recall all the possible cars without knowing what the direct cause is, as the costs are enormous and they don’t know which side should cover the costs.”

According to U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, the airbag defect has been linked to six deaths, with five in the United States and one in Malaysia. It is also believed that 105 injuries are connected to the flawed design.

Nissan’s airbag recall also explained why they think the airbags are failing to deploy safely.

“The propellant could potentially deteriorate over time due to environmental factors [due to many years in high humidity conditions], which could lead to over-aggressive combustion in the event of an airbag deployment. This could create excessive internal pressure within the inflator and could cause the inflator housing to rupture.”

A Consumer Reports article states, “In some cases, the incidents were horrific.” For example, a high school graduate named Ashley Parham was killed in a minor car crash when her Honda’s airbag exploded, sending metal pieces of shrapnel into her neck.

The 2015 airbag recall has been expanded to included an amazing 33.8 million vehicles, almost doubling the size of the airbag recall. Some of these vehicles are located within North America, but many are in markets all over the world. Many of the auto manufacturers have begun adding the the vehicle identification numbers (VIN) of the impacted vehicles to their recall websites.

Mark Rosekind, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, admitted the NHTSA could not verify the safety of the replacements used in the 2015 airbag recall, but he claims “we know they are safer.” Kevin Pollack, vice president for Stericycle ExpertSolutions, notes that many Americans are likely to ignore the 2015 airbag recall notices from manufacturers, which only makes the problem worse.

“There’s no question that this is the most complex recall of all time,” he said, according to KCCI. “This only makes it much more complicated.”

Takata airbags represent around nearly 20 percent of all airbags used in the world, but Takata executives only recently admitted to the defect. When speaking before the U.S. Congress, Kevin Kennedy, an executive vice president of Takata’s North American unit, says the company will stop making the flawed design, but he did not say when they will be able to transition to a safer airbag.

[Image via Google Images]