A dangerous defect
Five years ago, automakers began to send out recall notices on 42 million autos on U.S. roads equipped with questionable airbags, but most vehicle owners never responded.
Today, nearly 1 million autos recalled in three states alone — Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi — never had the defective airbags replaced, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported.
Humid weather is one of the triggers for setting off a faulty airbag. The detonation sprays metal from the defective part through the cabin at high speed, like buckshot from a shotgun.
Although 16 people in the United States have been killed and over 300 injured when airbags went off, only about 18 million recalled vehicles have been taken into dealers for the free airbag replacements.
The defective airbags, produced by Japanese manufacturer Takata, touched off the largest recall in U.S. automotive history. NHTSA appointed former federal prosecutor John Buretta, a partner at the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, as the independent monitor of Takata and the coordinated remedy program.
Ted Evanoff Memphis Commercial Appeal USA TODAY NETWORK - TENNESSEE
According to NHTSA, 400,000 autos in Tennessee, 300,000 in Alabama and 200,000 in Mississippi are being driven with “dangerously defective airbags,” says Glover Park Group, a Washington public relations firm hired by the independent monitor’s office.
“While the recall affects vehicles made by 19 different vehicle manufacturers, certain 2001-2003 Hondas and Acuras as well as certain 2006 Ford Ranger trucks and Mazda B-series trucks are considered higher risk,” says Glover Park Group.
“NHTSA urges consumers not to drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately.”
Presently, Honda representatives are looking up owners and going door to door to tell people their vehicles contain flawed airbags. Other companies are using different techniques. General Motors has used direct mailings, emails, live phone calls, automated phone calls, text messages and social media advertisements, says Glover Park Group.
The Takata situation came along in an era when motorists are experiencing the safest periods ever on American roads.
More than 300 million vehicles are registered in the United States, a record number, but highway fatalities have plummeted, a result of more miles driven on welldesigned interstate highways, widespread seat belt use, common safety technology such as anti-lock brakes, and engineering techniques such as a design that directs the engine under the car during a frontend collision and away from the seating area.
“Over the last 20 or 30 years, cars themselves became much safer. Manufacturers have done a really wonderful job constructing vehicles to survive crashes,” said Michael Manser, senior researcher at Texas A&M University’s Transportation Institute.
NHTSA’S analysis shows 1.1 fatalities for every 100 million miles driven on U.S. roads in 2017, down from 1.6 fatalities per 100 million miles in 1997 and 5.35 fatalities per 100 million miles in 1967.
Still, 45 percent of airbags affected by the airbag recall in Tennessee have yet to be repaired. More than 900 unrepaired airbags are deemed do-not-drive, NHTSA says.
People can check on whether their vehicle airbag is safe at Airbagrecall.com.
Despite warnings, about 45 percent of airbags affected by the airbag recall in Tennessee have yet to be repaired.