The debacle continues.
Takata’s airbag inflator debacle is far from over.
Six automakers from the United States and abroad have added 1.7 million cars to the roster of vehicles that need to be recalled to fix a potentially deadly defect.
Subaru, Tesla, BMW, the Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz, and Ferrari have announced separate recalls to replace defective airbag inflators, according to the Associated Press. Subaru’s recall includes 826,144 examples of the Forester, Outback, and Legacy models manufactured between 2010 and 2014. Mercedes is calling back 288,779 cars from model years 2010 to 2017. Volkswagen contributed 119,394 cars to the recall, including some Audi-badged models, while BMW noted 266,044 cars made between from 2000 to 2004 and 2007 to 2015 are part of the latest campaign.
Daimler’s van division, Tesla, and Ferrari recalled 159,689, 68,763, and 11,176 cars, respectively. Daimler wrote the vans affected by the recall were made from 2015 to 2017. Tesla singled out examples of the Model S manufactured from 2014 to 2016. Finally, Ferrari listed various 2014 to 2018 models.
The Associated Press reported automakers had recalled 50.36 million inflators as of December 2018. Only 27.2 million of those had been replaced by the end of 2018, meaning millions of motorists are still driving a car equipped with an airbag inflator that’s directly linked to over 20 deaths worldwide. Owners who want to check whether their car is part of the campaign need to call their nearest dealer, or check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s official website.