Airbag recall expanded to 1.5 million in Canada
TORONTO — A worldwide recall of faulty airbags made by Japan’s Takata Corp., has now widened to include more than 1.5 million vehicles in Canada.
Transport Canada released a detailed list of the affected vehicles on Thursday following Takata’s agreement with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week to declare 33.8 million airbags in the U.S. defective. That makes this the largest auto recall in U.S. history.
The list of affected vehicles in Canada was posted online and includes the Honda Civic, Accord and CR-V, Chrysler products including the Dodge Ram and the Chrysler 300, BMW sedans and the X5, and Ford’s Ranger and Mustang brands. Most of the affected models are from the 2001 to 2011 model years, although more recent Ford Mustang models are also covered by the recall.
The full list of the vehicles included in the recall can be found on Ottawa’s HealthyCanadians.ca website.
Canadians who want to check whether their vehicles are included in the recall can either enter their vehicle identification number on their auto manufacturer’s website or enter their vehicle’s make, model and year on Transport Canada’s road safety recalls database.
People are urged to contact their local dealers for free servicing if their vehicles are covered by the recall.
The Takata Airbag recall began in 2008 over concerns that the Airbag inflators could explode with too much force, spewing metal shrapnel into drivers or passengers when deployed.
The faulty airbags have caused more than 100 injuries and six deaths worldwide. But Transport Canada says it has no reports of any deaths or injuries in Canada from consumers or auto manufacturers.
Several automakers including Honda, Chrysler and BMW have already addressed the faulty airbags in some models in previous mandated recalls or voluntary efforts.
Honda said in a statement Thursday it began a campaign to replace the Airbag inflators on its 704,700 affected vehicles in December.
Chrysler Canada reported a voluntary recall of more than 258,000 vehicles in January. In a statement, spokeswoman Lou Ann Gosselin said the company knows of only one injury related to the defect.
The 2008 Takata recall began with two Acura models and two Honda models produced in 2001 and 2002 and by 2014 had expanded to include vehicles from Mazda, Toyota, General Motors, Nissan, BMW and Subaru, as well as more Honda models.
It will take some time before Takata and other suppliers can provide the 33.8 million inflators needed to fix all the cars involved in the global recall. The company said it is currently producing 500,000 inflators per month, with plans to produce up to one million per month by September.