Four Automakers May Have Yet More Defective Takata Air Bags

Federal safety regulators are investigating whether yet more defective air bags should be recalled in vehicles made by Audi, Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi, based on filings posted Thursday.

The investigation, first reported by the Associated Press, focuses on air bag inflators made by the bankrupt Japanese supplier that have not been covered by the industry’s largest ever recall.

The inflators may blow apart a metal canister, causing shrapnel to fly through the vehicles’ interior, potentially injuring drivers and passengers.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nineteen automakers have already recalled about 70 million Takata air bag inflators, the largest recall in U.S. automotive history. Long-term exposure to extreme heat and high humidity can increase the risk of an explosion.

Such explosions have caused at least 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S.

Earlier this month a new group of 1.4 million vehicles were recalled for the an inflator defect. NHTSA cited an Australian driver who died in an air bag-related accident, while, in separate incidents, an Australian driver, and one in Cyprus were injured.

Unlike the previously recalled vehicles, the new recall covered non-azide driver inflators.

Non-azide inflators don’t use ammonium nitrate, a highly volatile compound that can explode violently, but the propellant used in non-azide inflators still can deteriorate over time when exposed to moisture.

But Takata has stated in documents filed with NHTSA that the non-azide inflators may have problems with insufficient seals.

That could still result in the same type of explosion that has killed people, or it can result in the air bags under-inflating during deployment.

NHTSA has asked the four automakers to notify the agency by Jan. 17 what they know about the defect.

“If your company has not yet gathered enough evidence to make a determination that the subject air bag inflators present an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety, reply with a detailed work plan including benchmark dates required to make the determination,” NHTSA said in its letter to the four companies.

A Honda spokesman told AP that it has not determined whether any of its vehicles have the problem in question. Audi and Toyota said they are still investigating. Mitsubishi did not respond to phone inquiries.

James Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, did not accuse the automakers of responding too slowly, but he did cite the urgency of learning the cause of the problem in light of the deaths and injuries that have been caused by other defects in Takata air bags.

“Just waiting these problems out is not going to solve the dangerous situations that defective parts can create,” Levine said.

Key Safety Systems, a Chinese owned auto supplier, purchased the remaining assets of Takata in April 2018 for $1.6 billion, or 175 billion yen, and renamed it Joyson Safety Systems.