The Takata Recall May Get Even Worse
Brian O Sutter
Recalls
The Takata air bag recall is already the single biggest vehicle recall in American history, in large part because it affects over a dozen manufacturers to one extent or another. What started as a few million Honda vehicles has expanded to 29 million air bags in cars manufactured by companies headquartered in Asia, Europe, and America, and now NHTSA regulators are wondering whether to tack on another 90 million.Well-Documented Troubles
The reason for this sudden quadrupling has to do with a new batch of Takata internal emails and memos which have revealed that their manufacturing issues were far more systemic than exceptional. Defective air bag inflators were regularly allowed to pass through the inspection process despite any obvious flaws like metal shavings in the propellant, bad welding jobs, and bent or damaged parts.
Moreover, these issues date back as far as 2001, several years earlier than what anyone previously expected, and they extend to more than one manufacturing plant. And since these bad inflators were randomly thrown in with good inflators, all of them will need to be replaced in order to guarantee that no one else will die from air bag shrapnel.
The biggest problem has to do with the chemical used as the propellant. Ammonium nitrate has some strong explosive potential – it has to if it’s going to fill a large bag with air in less than the blink of an eye – but the chemical grows unstable in the presence of moisture and heat, including the moisture and heat which you can find in the air during a humid day.
While that doesn’t matter when the inflator is properly constructed and can keep ambient moisture out, a defective inflator invites that moisture in and causes the kind of corrosion that leads to the shrapnel which has so far taken nine lives.
Supply Shortages
Because of the company’s continuous and well-known mistake, Takata has to replace air bag parts for the largest recall in US history, including parts for more than 12 manufacturers and vehicles from nearly a decade and a half of production. Rather understandably, Takata has been unable to manufacture its free replacements in large enough quantities to meet this demand, to the point where one of its competitors is also manufacturing replacements (though Takata is still footing the bill).
Thus, the company and the NHTSA are working together to identify the cars most at risk of catastrophic failure and prioritizing them. For the most part, these are the cars sold throughout the South, which combines hot temperatures with a high humidity. Florida car owners in particular should be on high alert for any recall notices related to their air bags, at least assuming their car is younger than the new millennium.
Florida car owners may also be entitled to additional damages related to the recall depending on a few different circumstances. Since Florida is a high-risk part of the country, you may be able to claim damages for negligence, and if you’re injured by an air bag during a collision then you can definitely sue Takata and potentially your car’s manufacturer depending on the exact circumstances.
And before you sue, make sure you contact a personal injury lawyer to find out what your best options are. If you live in or around Sarasota or Port Charlotte, then you should definitely make All Injuries Law Firm your consultants of choice. We’ll let you know just how realistic your chances are, and if they’re good we’ll do our best to get you the compensation you deserve.