The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expanding and accelerating the Takata air bag inflator recall. The expansion means that all Takata ammonium nitrate-based propellant frontal air bag inflators without a chemical drying agent will be recalled.
Was your vehicle recalled?
Ruptures of the Takata inflators have been tied to ten deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S., according to a press release by the NHTSA. The faulty airbags were reported to have shot shrapnel at people during deployment.
Takata will have to make a series of safety defect decisions that will support vehicle manufacturer recall campaigns of an additional estimated 35 to 40 million inflators – adding to the 28.8 million inflators previously recalled. The recall expansions will commence in phases between May 2016 and December 2019. The five recall phases are based on prioritization of risk based on the inflators’ ages and exposure to high humidity and fluctuating high temperatures – all of which have been determined to accelerate the degradation of the chemical propellant inside the inflator.
This is the largest and most complex safety recall in U.S. history. The NHTSA imposed its largest historical civil penalty in 2015 for Takata’s violations of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The agency also for the first time used its authority to accelerate recall repairs to millions of affected vehicles.
Obtaining Justice for People Injured by Vehicle Defects
Car owners have a right to expect their vehicles have been designed to provide them with the best protection possible. Victims and their families deserve justice when an airbag failure or other car defects result in death or catastrophic injury.
For decades, Anapol Weiss has been successfully advocating for those killed or catastrophically injured by defective airbags or other airbag failures. Contact our firm for assistance if you or a family member was injured as a result of a vehicle malfunction. Our highly qualified team can investigate and answer your legal questions.