Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced today that it will vastly expand its recall of older Dodge, Chrysler, and Mitsubishi vehicles to replace driver-side airbags manufactured by disgraced auto supplier Takata. The expanded recall affects an estimated 3.3 million autos constructed between 2004 and 2007, 2.9 million of which are in the U.S. See under for the full list of impacted models.
In a statement, the automaker says that neither FCA US nor Takata has identified any defects in the airbags employed in the newly-recalled vehicles, despite conducting “more than 1,000 laboratory tests.” The Takata elements used in the newly-recalled FCA automobiles are a different style from those linked to injury or death triggered by shrapnel shooting out of the airbag in the course of deployment. The automaker reports one U.S. injury linked to an older Chrysler automobile, which occurred in Florida.
But in the wake of the increasingly disastrous findings about potentially-deadly Takata airbags, the NHTSA has publicly criticized automakers for not extending their recalls nationwide, and the agency’s deputy chief David Friedman singled out Chrysler in a scathing criticism in early December. FCA US had previously performed a little recall action limited to high-humidity regions of Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
With this choice, FCA US joins Ford, Toyota, Honda, and Mazda in launching nationwide recalls on Takata components. Impacted cars are listed beneath. For ongoing Takata recall coverage, check our continually updated Takata details portal.
Model years 2004 via 2007 are impacted for all listed cars.
Hiroshi Shimizu, Takata’s senior vice president of global good quality assurance, testifies ahead of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on December 3.
With Takata denying a federal request to recall more of its driver’s-side airbags, Honda has agreed to do so by expanding its regional recalls and calling all automakers to help a third-party audit that would speed up components testing and properly determine the shrapnel-shooting airbags.
As of last Wednesday, the National Highway Visitors Safety Administration had provided Takata until midnight last evening to expand the recall and had pressured half of the 10 impacted automakers to do the same. While NHTSA maintains that passenger-side airbags do not pose a coast-to-coast problem, Takata senior vice president Hiroshi Shimizu rebuffed NHTSA’s claims that a number of million driver’s-side airbags now demonstrate a national safety danger.
“Based on the information we are collecting from the region, the data nonetheless help that we must remain focused on the region with higher humidity,” Shimizu stated in a hearing today to the Residence Committee on Energy and Commerce.
To date, Takata has tested roughly 4000 inflators recovered from automobiles in “high humidity” regions of the south and Gulf Coast and said that all of the approximately 400 driver’s-side inflators had performed as designed. But of the remaining 3600 passenger-side inflators, Shimizu said that “less than 60″ had ruptured—which, at 1.67 % of the sample, is a quite higher failure price in manufacturing. NHTSA had sent a recall request to Takata final month soon after a driver of a 2007 Ford Mustang outdoors of the regional recall was injured by a 2-inch metal shard. In the U.S., 4 folks have died from the defective Takata inflators—all of them in Honda vehicles—and at least 139 injuries have been reported across all automakers.
“The proof is the dilemma isn’t limited to areas of absolute, higher humidity,” NHTSA deputy administrator David Friedman stated at the hearing. Friedman mentioned he would pursue fines, which can run up to $ 7000 per day, if Takata does not comply with an expanded recall.
So far, only Toyota has seconded Honda’s request for outdoors testing but did not expand any of its recalls. Takata stated it would type an independent panel to scrutinize top quality checks, recommend greatest practices at its facilities, and publish the final results at a later date. As part of NHTSA’s investigation, the company has till December 5 to supply the agency with particulars on its manufacturing processes and to reveal employee names who worked on the production line when the faulty airbags had been manufactured. All 10 automakers have also been ordered to submit test benefits from the regional recalls by December 5, hence Honda’s cry for a group work. Honda is below a separate investigation by NHTSA for omitting 1729 death and injury reports for far more than a decade, a dilemma the business mentioned nowadays was due to poor employee oversight, and for not specifically mentioning airbag-related deaths and injuries in previous recalls.
In August, a 2007 Ford Mustang driver was injured by this 2-inch metal fragment from a faulty Takata airbag.
Despite months of testing—plus years of related investigations by Takata and Honda that stretch back to 2004—neither Takata nor the automakers have a definitive answer as to why the airbags are exploding shrapnel. Shimizu said Takata is testing about 25 inflators per day and is currently on track to ship out 350,000 replacements per month and will ramp up to 450,000 by January. If each automaker issues national airbag recalls, Takata has agreed to contract with suppliers Autoliv and Daicel to feed the demand.
Although numerous of Takata’s current airbag inflators use the synthetic compound Tetrazole, Shimizu mentioned there was nothing unsafe about the ammonium nitrate utilized in the faulty inflators, only that “manufacturing processes and humidity control in the plant” had caused the problem. When Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) revealed comments from Takata engineers in 1999 who raised doubts about ammonium nitrate, which includes that it “predisposes this propellant to break apart” and that it could “blow up,” Shimizu said he did not remember seeing them. Final month, a Takata official stated the replacement airbag inflators had a revised chemical compound but have been still primarily based on ammonium nitrate. Shimizu mentioned the replacements have the exact same propellant as just before.
“I’m quite confident that merchandise on the current production line should operate as made and are secure,” Shimizu said.
With regard to allegations that business workers destroyed information after discovering faulty airbags in 2004, Shimizu denied there was “any secret test” and stated the company did conduct tests at that time related to a separate difficulty in which airbag cushions have been tearing on BMW models.
Hiroshi Shimizu, Takata’s senior vice president of global quality assurance, testifies prior to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on December 3.
With Takata denying a federal request to recall more of its driver’s-side airbags, Honda has agreed to do so by expanding its regional recalls and calling all automakers to help a third-party audit that would speed up parts testing and properly determine the shrapnel-shooting airbags.
As of last Wednesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had provided Takata till midnight last night to expand the recall and had pressured half of the 10 impacted automakers to do the exact same. Even though NHTSA maintains that passenger-side airbags do not pose a coast-to-coast dilemma, Takata senior vice president Hiroshi Shimizu rebuffed NHTSA’s claims that numerous million driver’s-side airbags now demonstrate a national safety threat.
“Based on the information we are collecting from the area, the data nevertheless support that we need to stay focused on the area with higher humidity,” Shimizu said in a hearing these days to the Residence Committee on Energy and Commerce.
To date, Takata has tested roughly 4000 inflators recovered from automobiles in “high humidity” regions of the south and Gulf Coast and mentioned that all of the about 400 driver’s-side inflators had performed as made. But of the remaining 3600 passenger-side inflators, Shimizu said that “less than 60″ had ruptured—which, at 1.67 percent of the sample, is a really high failure rate in manufacturing. NHTSA had sent a recall request to Takata final month right after a driver of a 2007 Ford Mustang outdoors of the regional recall was injured by a 2-inch metal shard. In the U.S., 4 folks have died from the defective Takata inflators—all of them in Honda vehicles—and at least 139 injuries have been reported across all automakers.
“The proof is the dilemma isn’t restricted to locations of absolute, high humidity,” NHTSA deputy administrator David Friedman mentioned at the hearing. Friedman mentioned he would pursue fines, which can run up to $ 7000 per day, if Takata does not comply with an expanded recall.
So far, only Toyota has seconded Honda’s request for outside testing but did not expand any of its recalls. Takata said it would kind an independent panel to scrutinize top quality checks, advocate very best practices at its facilities, and publish the outcomes at a later date. As element of NHTSA’s investigation, the organization has till December 5 to give the agency with specifics on its manufacturing processes and to reveal employee names who worked on the production line when the faulty airbags had been manufactured. All 10 automakers have also been ordered to submit test results from the regional recalls by December 5, therefore Honda’s cry for a group effort. Honda is under a separate investigation by NHTSA for omitting 1729 death and injury reports for much more than a decade, a dilemma the firm said right now was due to poor employee oversight, and for not specifically mentioning airbag-connected deaths and injuries in previous recalls.
In August, a 2007 Ford Mustang driver was injured by this 2-inch metal fragment from a faulty Takata airbag.
Despite months of testing—plus years of related investigations by Takata and Honda that stretch back to 2004—neither Takata nor the automakers have a definitive answer as to why the airbags are exploding shrapnel. Shimizu mentioned Takata is testing about 25 inflators per day and is at the moment on track to ship out 350,000 replacements per month and will ramp up to 450,000 by January. If every single automaker issues national airbag recalls, Takata has agreed to contract with suppliers Autoliv and Daicel to feed the demand.
Even though many of Takata’s present airbag inflators use the synthetic compound Tetrazole, Shimizu stated there was nothing unsafe about the ammonium nitrate utilized in the faulty inflators, only that “manufacturing processes and humidity handle in the plant” had triggered the difficulty. When Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) revealed comments from Takata engineers in 1999 who raised doubts about ammonium nitrate, which includes that it “predisposes this propellant to break apart” and that it could “blow up,” Shimizu stated he did not remember seeing them. Last month, a Takata official said the replacement airbag inflators had a revised chemical compound but have been still based on ammonium nitrate. Shimizu said the replacements have the identical propellant as prior to.
“I’m really confident that items on the present production line ought to operate as created and are protected,” Shimizu said.
With regard to allegations that company workers destroyed information following discovering faulty airbags in 2004, Shimizu denied there was “any secret test” and stated the organization did conduct tests at that time associated to a separate difficulty in which airbag cushions have been tearing on BMW models.
The automotive planet and beyond is buzzing about the huge airbag recall covering numerous millions of vehicles in the U.S. from practically 2 dozen brands. Here’s what you need to know about the problem which automobiles could have the defective, shrapnel-shooting inflator parts from Japanese supplier Takata and what to do if your vehicle is 1 of them.
* SCROLL TO BOTTOM FOR Full LIST OF Affected Automobiles *
The situation requires defective inflator and propellent devices that might deploy improperly in the occasion of a crash, shooting metal fragments into vehicle occupants. A lot more than 7 million cars are potentially impacted in the United States.
Initially, only 6 makes were involved when Takata announced the fault in April 2013, but a Toyota recall in June this year—along with new admissions from Takata that it had little clue as to which automobiles employed its defective inflators, or even what the root trigger was—prompted more automakers to problem identical recalls. In July, NHTSA forced added regional recalls in high-humidity regions including Florida, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to collect removed parts and send them to Takata for review.
Another main recall issued on October 20 expanded the impacted vehicles across many brands. For its component, Toyota mentioned it would begin to replace defective passenger-side inflators starting October 25 if parts are unavailable, nevertheless, it has advised its dealers to disable the airbags and affix “Do Not Sit Here” messages to the dashboard.
Whilst Toyota says there have been no related injuries or deaths involving its autos, a New York Times report in September found a total of at least 139 reported injuries across all automakers. In specific, there have been at least 2 deaths and 30 injuries in Honda cars. According to the Occasions, Honda and Takata allegedly have recognized about the faulty inflators given that 2004 but failed to notify NHTSA in prior recall filings (which started in 2008) that the impacted airbags had really ruptured or were linked to injuries and deaths.
Takata initial mentioned that propellant chemical substances had been mishandled and improperly stored for the duration of assembly, which supposedly caused the metal airbag inflators to burst open due to excessive stress inside. In July, the organization blamed humid weather and spurred additional recalls.
According to documents reviewed by Reuters, Takata says that rust, negative welds, and even chewing gum dropped into at least a single inflator are also at fault. The identical documents show that in 2002, Takata’s plant in Mexico allowed a defect price that was “6 to 8 occasions above” acceptable limits, or roughly 60 to 80 defective parts for each 1 million airbag inflators shipped. The company’s study has however to attain a final conclusion and report the findings to NHTSA.
UPDATE 11/7:The New York Instances has published a report suggesting that Takata knew about the airbag problems in 2004, conducting secret tests off work hours to verify the difficulty. The results confirmed main problems with the inflators, and engineers quickly began researching a answer. But instead of notifying federal security regulators and moving forward with fixes, Takata executives ordered its engineers to destroy the information and dispose of the physical proof. This occurred a full 4 years ahead of Takata publicly acknowledged the issue. Needless to say, the supplier has a lot of explaining to do.
AFFECTED Cars (total quantity if known in parentheses):
Acura: 2002–2003 CL and TL 2003–2006 MDX 2005 RL
BMW (627,615): 2000–2005 3-series sedan and wagon 2000–2006 3-series coupe and convertible 2001–2006 M3 coupe and convertible
Chrysler (371,309, like Dodge): 2005–2008 Chrysler 300 2007–2008 Aspen
Dodge/Ram (371,309, including Chrysler): 2003–2008 Dodge Ram 1500 2005–2008 Ram 2500, Dakota, and Durango 2006–2008 Ram 3500 and 4500 2008 Ram 5500
Ford (58,669): 2004 Ranger 2005–2006 GT 2005–2007 Mustang
Honda (5,051,364, including Acura): 2001–2007 Accord 2001–2005 Civic 2002–2006 CR-V 2002–2004 Odyssey 2003–2011 Element 2003–2007 Pilot 2006 Ridgeline
Toyota (877,000, like Lexus and Pontiac Vibe): 2002–2005 Toyota Corolla and Sequoia 2003–2005 Matrix, Tundra
We will update this list as quickly as new information is offered, but you can access NHTSA’s ownoperating tally of affected vehicles here. For further details about your specific vehicle, go to the manufacturer’s customer site or use NHTSA’s VIN-lookup tool.
This story was originally published on October 21, 2014. It has subsequently been updated to reflect the newest findings and official list of impacted vehicles.
In August, a 2007 Ford Mustang driver was injured by this 2-inch metal fragment from a faulty Takata airbag. 
In August, a 2007 Ford Mustang driver was injured by this 2-inch metal fragment from a faulty Takata airbag. 
