The AP (6/1) reports on a new Takata air bag recall affecting nearly 1.9 million vehicles manufactured by Ford Motor Co. According to the article, Ford’s recall includes “the 2007-2010 Ford Edge, 2006-2011 Ford Fusion, 2005-2011 Ford Mustang, 2007-2011 Ford Ranger, 2007-2010 Lincoln MKX and 2006-2011 Lincoln MKZ, Zephyr and Mercury Milan.”
MLive (MI) (6/1, Muller, 762K) further explains that “a total of 1,898,728 Ford vehicles are affected by the latest Takata recall, including 1,896,443 in the U.S.”
Also reporting on the recall is Cars (6/1, Newman, 876K) and the Car Connection (6/1, Read, 169K).
Recalled Takata airbag still being sold in new cars. News outlets report that at least four automakers are continuing to sell new cars with the potentially fatal, recalled Takata airbags. NBC Nightly News (6/1, story 3, 2:10, Guthrie, 16.61M) reported that the cars continuing to be sold with the recalled airbags are “the 2016 and 2017 Mitsubishi I-Miev, the 2016 Volkswagen CC, the 2016 Audi TT, and 2017 Audi R8. Toyota and Fiat Chrysler are also selling vehicles with the potentially defective air bags, though they insist they’re not under recall.” The New York Times (6/1, Tabuchi, Subscription Publication, 14.18M) explains that the delay in the recall is due to the fact that ammonium nitrate, which generates the gases that inflate the airbag, breaks down over time when it is exposed to moisture or extreme weather. The Los Angeles Times (6/1, Li, 4.12M) reports that according to the NHTSA, the inflators can work for at least six years before becoming unsafe.
In an online report, NBC News (6/1, Eisenstein, 2.97M) that the automakers continuing to install the recalled airbag was revealed in a new Senate airport released by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL). In response to the report, Fiat Chrysler US said, “FCA US is not equipping any new vehicles with components that are currently subject to recall.” The article explains that this is technically correct since “NHTSA has indicated that it ultimately does plan to recall all such airbags by 2018, but does not necessarily consider them an immediate safety threat.” The article adds that the Senate report states that as of May 20, 2016, “nationwide recall completion rates for each automaker range from 0.16 percent to 57.1 percent.”
CBS News (6/1, Picchi, 3.67M) reports that Nelson said, “What’s troubling here is that consumers are buying new cars not realizing they’re going to be recalled.” Nelson added, “These cars shouldn’t be sold until they’re fixed.” The article also mentions that the report “found that at least 2.1 million of the inflators that have been replaced in the recall are the same type that are linked to the defect.” CNN Money (6/1, Isidore, 3.1M) reports that the NHTSA has reached an agreement with Takata which bans it from entering any new contracts involving the recalled airbags. However, the article mentions that Takata “has until the end of 2018 to phase out supplying the defective inflators to fulfill existing contracts.”
The AP (6/1) reports that the NHTSA “said in a statement that it has called on automakers to do more to notify vehicle owners and speed up replacement of the Takata inflators.”
The Wall Street Journal (6/1, Spector, Subscription Publication, 6.27M), The Hill (6/1, Zanona, 884K), Reuters (6/1, Shepardson),AFP (6/1), Cars (6/1, Geiger, 876K), Consumer Reports (6/1, 14.52M), Consumerist (6/1, Kieler, 45K), and the WKMG-TV Orlando, FL (6/1, Volz, 70K) website.
Courtesy of the AAJ.
Remember, personal injury lawyers at Gill & Chamas can help with airbag related cases.
