85M un-recalled airbag inflators could be on U.S. roads: agency
About 85 million Takata airbag inflators that haven’t been recalled are inside cars and trucks now being driven in the U.S. and would have to be replaced if the company can’t prove they are safe, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said.
The number would be in addition to the 28.8 million inflators already slated for replacement in what has become the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. If all the inflators are recalled, it would take years to complete and cost Takata billions of dollars.
Unlike most airbag makers, Takata’s inflators use the chemical ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion that fills airbags in a crash. But the chemical can burn too fast and explode with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister and hurling shrapnel at drivers and passengers. At least 11 people have died worldwide and more than 100 have been hurt.
The NHTSA, which made the estimate, says it doesn’t know how many vehicles have Takata airbags but many have more than one inflator made by the company.
The new number shows how much worse the Takata problem could become, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who has urged the NHTSA to recall all Takata inflators and force the company to stop selling those with ammonium nitrate.
“It underscores the need for regulators to provide the public with better answers when it comes to every Takata airbag on the road,” Nelson said.
Under the terms of an agreement reached with Takata last year, the Japanese parts supplier must prove to the agency that the unrecalled inflators are safe to use, or they must be recalled. The agency has said it expects the number of Takata recalls to increase.
The problem has been linked to older cars with long-term exposure to high humidity. That’s why replacement parts are being targeted to areas such as U.S. states along the Gulf of Mexico, although many of the cars have been recalled nationwide.
No one knows for certain how long it takes for the ammonium nitrate to deteriorate or whether inflators in older cars in cooler, less-humid places might explode in the future. That makes the safety of Takata inflators — which are in driver, passenger and side airbags — a potentially deadly unknown.
Mark Rosekind, who heads the NHTSA, said in a February letter to Nelson that an immediate total recall of Takata airbags wouldn’t provide significant safety benefits and could exceed the government’s legal authority. It would also strain the network for replacement parts and increase uncertainty for consumers, he wrote.
Nelson wants all the inflators recalled, fearing further deaths and injuries. His request was made after a South Carolina man was killed by a Takata driver’s airbag inflator last year. The inflator in the man’s Ford Ranger pickup had not been recalled, and previous tests had shown no problems with that type of inflator. The agency said it must have data to support further recalls, which it currently does not have.
The NHTSA has given Takata until the end of 2018 to prove that inflators without a drying agent, or desiccant, in them are safe, or it must issue a blanket recall. The company has until the end of 2019 to prove that inflators with the desiccant are safe.
“We’ve recalled the highest-risk (inflators) and we’ve now flipped the standard and are saying they must now be proven to be safe,” agency spokesman Bryan Thomas said.
According to the NHTSA, there are about 53 million Takata driver and passenger airbag inflators in use that don’t have the drying agent. About 32 million have the drying chemical. Thomas said no inflators that contain the desiccant have ruptured, either in tests or on the road, except for two side-airbag ruptures in testing that were blamed on a separate manufacturing defect.
Takata has agreed not to sign any more contracts to sell ammoniumnitrate inflators and to phase it out of manufacturing by the end of 2018.