When will it end? BMW, Volkswagen, and Daimler have announced that they will all be recalling more U.S.-market vehicles because of potentially defective airbag inflators made by the Takata company.
BMW and Daimler will be recalling 840,000 vehicles each while Volkswagen will call in 850,000 units. These are among the 5,100,000 additional vehicles that Takata recently said may be affected in the U.S.
Unlike the earlier airbag-related recalls, this most recent incident can affect newer BMWs, some as recent as 2015 models.
To date in the United States alone, more than 24,000,000 vehicles involving 28,000,000 Takata inflators have been recalled.
In addition to the BMW, VW, and Mercedes-Benz models, Audi will recall 170,000 vehicles, Honda will bring in 2,230,000, Mazda will recall almost 20,000 B Series trucks, and Ford will recall 361,000 Ranger pickups.
BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen have all stated that they are unaware of any airbag failures in their vehicles.
This latest round of Takata-related recalls was prompted by the death in December 2015 of a Ford Ranger pickup driver as well as some new testing of suspect airbags. A total of ten deaths worldwide and nine in the U.S. have been attributed to the defective Takata inflators. All except the Ford Ranger involved Hondas.
Update: Here is BMW's statement on the recall, courtesy of BMWBLOG:
"BMW has notified NHTSA of its intention to recall approximately 840,000 cars and Sports Activity Vehicles equipped with Takata PSDI-5 driver-side front air bags to have the driver-side front airbag replaced. These vehicles, covering model years 2006-2015 have not been part of earlier Takata-related air bag recalls. Owners of potentially affected BMW vehicles will be contacted by first-class mail advising them of the recall. When replacement parts are available, owners will receive another letter with instructions for having the recall completed. Owners with questions can contact BMW Customer Relations at 1-800-525-7417 or email CustomerRelations@bmwusa.com."
This has turned into the recall that wouldn’t die.—Scott Blazey
[Photo courtesy of BMW.]
