The United States government announced last Wednesday a recall of over a million vehicles from several auto companies following the discovery of a new and potentially dangerous flaw in the vehicles’ airbags.
Some older vehicles made by five automakers – Audi, BMW, Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyoto – were recalled because of a malfunction in their airbags, which were manufactured by the Takata Corporation.
According to the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), about 1.4 million vehicles may have the defect, but the agency estimates about one percent of them actually have it.
Information from the NHTSA stated that the airbags contain Non-Azide Driver (NADI) inflators. This defect can cause the airbag’s inflator to explode or “underinflate” when it is deployed—resulting in serious injury and even death. The NHTSA referred to the phenomenon as a “very serious threat to safety.”
According to documents published by the NHTSA, the Takata Corporation wrote that it made 4.45 million of the NADI inflators between May 1, 1995 and August 31, 1999. Because the vehicles assembled with those inflators were released over two decades ago, the documents read, not all of the inflators are still in cars being driven today.
“The number of Takata NADI inflators for vehicles sold in the United States is substantially smaller but is not precisely known at this time,” the documents read.