Time for Airbag Manufacturer to Take a Hike?

With news out yesterday that more airbags manufactured by Takata Corporation are being recalled, we have to wonder whether maybe it’s time for car manufacturers to stop using Takata airbags altogether.

Faulty airbags can cause a variety of injuries, and even death.  In fact, hundreds of injuries and some deaths have been linked to faulty airbags.  The injuries occur when airbags deploy when they are not supposed to, or when they do deploy in a crash but do so improperly.  In crashes, it has been determined that the airbags send dangerous metal fragments flying at high speeds toward drivers and passengers.

Takata’s failures go all the way back to 2004, when Takata discovered, but did not tell federal regulators about dangerous defects in their airbags.  This lead to the largest civil penalty against a manufacturer by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

The recalls announced today are just another addition of another model of vehicles affected by defective Takata airbags.  There are literally dozens of models involved, amounting to millions of vehicles which need to have their airbags fixed or replaced.  These defects, which seem to growing by the week, and Takata’s failure to report them, should make anyone wonder how Takata is still making and selling these airbags.  To use a college football analogy, if a college were found guilty of this many violations, they would get the “death penalty” so often threatened by the NCAA.  At what point does the government determine that Takata has crossed that line?

If you have a vehicle covered by the recall, but have not had any injuries associated with the airbags, your best bet is to take your vehicle to the closest dealer.  If you have questions about the airbags, you can contact NHTSA, or as always, feel free to call us.  We will do what we can to help.