Massive Takata Airbag Recall: Everything You Need To Know, Including Full List Of Affected Vehicles

The automotive world and beyond is buzzing about the massive airbag recall covering many millions of vehicles in the U.S. Here鈥檚 what you need to know about the problem; which vehicles may have the defective, shrapnel-shooting inflator parts from Japanese supplier Takata; and what to do if your vehicle is one of them. The issue involves defective inflator and propellent devices that may deploy improperly in the event of a crash, shooting metal fragments into vehicle occupants. Approximately 42 million vehicles are potentially affected in the United States, and at least 7 million have been recalled worldwide. Another major recall issued on October 20 expanded the affected vehicles across several brands. For its part, Toyota said it would begin to replace defective passenger-side inflators starting October 25; if parts are unavailable, however, it has advised its dealers to disable the airbags and affix 鈥淒o Not Sit Here鈥?messages to the dashboard.

While Toyota says there have been no related injuries or deaths involving its vehicles, a New York Times report in September found a total of at least 139 reported injuries across all automakers. In particular, there have been at least two deaths and 30 injuries in Honda vehicles (UPDATE 12/12/2016: These figures are now verified as 11 deaths and 184 injuries in the U.S., as detailed in the updates below). Takata first said that propellant chemicals were mishandled and improperly stored during assembly, which supposedly caused the metal airbag inflators to burst open due to excessive pressure inside. In July, the company blamed humid weather and spurred additional recalls. According to documents reviewed by Reuters, Takata says that rust, bad welds, and even chewing gum dropped into at least one inflator are also at fault. The same documents show that in 2002, Takata鈥檚 plant in Mexico allowed a defect rate that was 鈥渟ix to eight times above鈥?acceptable limits, or roughly 60 to 80 defective parts for every 1 million airbag inflators shipped.

The company鈥檚 study has yet to reach a final conclusion and report the findings to NHTSA. UPDATE 11/7/2014, 9:44 a.m.: The New York Times has published a report suggesting that Takata knew about the airbag issues in 2004, conducting secret tests off work hours to verify the problem. The results confirmed major issues with the inflators, and engineers quickly began researching a solution. But instead of notifying federal safety regulators and moving forward with fixes, Takata executives ordered its engineers to destroy the data and dispose of the physical evidence. This occurred a full four years before Takata publicly acknowledged the problem. UPDATE 11/7/2014, 5:29 p.m.: Two U.S. Senators have now called for the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation on this matter. Read more about these developments on this C/D page. NHTSA to address a cushion-tearing issue unrelated to inflator rupturing,鈥?and that it 鈥渄id not suppress any test results showing cracking or rupturing in the inflators,鈥?whether to automakers such as Honda or to NHTSA.

For its story about Takata鈥檚 statement, the Times spoke again with one of its two sources for the November 6 article. That anonymous person is quoted as saying: 鈥淲hat Takata says is not true . On November 12, we reported about a change in Takata鈥檚 chemical makeup of its airbag propellant, which the company says is unrelated to the ongoing recall situation. UPDATE 11/18/2014, 6:10 p.m.: In light of a recent airbag failure in a 2007 Ford Mustang in North Carolina鈥攚hich was not part of the original 鈥渉igh-humidity areas鈥?Takata recall鈥攖he U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is calling for a nationwide recall of cars equipped with the defective Takata driver鈥檚-side airbags. UPDATE 11/20/2014, 5:35 p.m.: Automakers, officials from Takata, and motorists injured by defective airbags met for a hearing with Congress. NHTSA was accused of not responding quickly enough to the Takata airbag situation, and automakers also took heat for being slow with fixes. As of now, the recalls remain regional, but it seems only a matter of time before they鈥檙e blanketed nationwide.