Takata Expands Recall Again, Citing New Airbag Hazard

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/business/takata-recall-airbag.html

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Takata has added an additional 2.7 million airbags to the nation’s largest automobile industry recall after a new hazard was detected in testing.

The company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday that a subset of its airbag inflaters — ones that rely on calcium sulfate to keep them dry — can, like other versions, rupture while deploying the bags, hurling metal shards into vehicles.

Ford, Mazda and Nissan installed these inflaters in vehicles manufactured for the United States market from 2005 through 2012, according to Takata, of Japan. All are on the driver’s side of the vehicles.

The recall adds to an effort that was previously expected to cover 70 million Takata airbag inflaters in 42 million vehicles. Takata’s problems with defective devices began in 2008, when Honda initially recalled 4,000 vehicles that used Takata technology. So far, the safety agency says, about 17 million airbags have been replaced in the United States.

The deaths of at least 17 people worldwide, including 12 in the United States, have been linked to Takata inflaters. On Monday, Honda said a person in Florida died last summer after a Takata inflater ruptured in a parked 2001 Accord during an attempt to make an unspecified repair with a hammer.

Takata and the safety agency said they knew of no ruptures related to the hazard that prompted the latest recall.

Exposure to moisture and temperature fluctuations can degrade the propellant, which contains ammonium nitrate, a volatile compound Takata’s inflaters use to deploy airbags. The company used a variety of chemical agents to keep the propellant dry in its devices over the years, with some combinations showing a greater propensity to fail than others, federal regulators said.

The latest recall is the first involving the inflaters that use calcium sulfate as a drying agent. The inflater can combust in an “over-aggressive” manner, potentially rupturing and causing harm, according to a filing Takata submitted to the highway safety administration.

Takata’s latest admission brought fresh criticism of the company in Washington.

“This recall now raises serious questions about the threat posed by all of Takata’s ammonium-nitrate-based airbags,” Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, said in a statement. “If even more are found to be defective, it will take us from the biggest recall ever to something that could become mind-boggling.”

He called on regulators to quickly determine “whether all remaining Takata airbag inflaters are safe.”

In a statement, Takata said it had decided to recall inflaters that use calcium sulfate “out of an abundance of caution.” The devices are Takata’s earliest generation of ammonium-nitrate inflaters using calcium sulfate as a drying agent. The company is now testing later generations of those devices.

Takata pleaded guilty to criminal charges in January and agreed to pay a $1 billion fine related to its faulty airbag inflater systems. After filing for bankruptcy protection last month, it is selling assets.

The company has said that it expects to fund the airbag repairs through the asset sale and that it has secured financing to ensure it can continue operations, including dealing with the defective inflaters, while it restructures.