More Automakers Expand Takata Airbag Recall

BMW recently announced that it would expand its national recall of vehicles due to defective airbags. Another 140,000 vehicles will be added to the earlier recall.

The recall involves the 2004-2006 3-series Vehicles. Those cars were manufactured between January 2004 and august 2006. According to BMW, this is a precautionary measure, and none of the defective airbags by the Japanese auto parts supplier have yet involved any BMW vehicle.

Airbags manufactured by the Japanese auto parts supplier are at the center of a national recall by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In the United States alone, more than 17 million vehicles linked to the defective airbags have already been recalled. Globally, more than 24 million cars are included in the recall.

The friction between Takata and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration meanwhile continues with the Japanese company rejecting a demand by federal authorities to expand its recall to cover the entire United States. Over the past six years, Takata has been issuing recalls of its airbags in collaboration with at least 10 automakers. Many of the recalls have covered the Gulf Coast states, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. Takata has claimed that the problem, which causes a number of airbag-related problems is only limited to those areas that suffer from high humidity in the United States. However, the agency believes the problem is much more severe.

Problems with airbags have included small shards of metal, exploding into the face of the occupants when the airbag deploys. There is a serious potential for eye injuries, puncture wounds, facial injuries, severe blunt force trauma, and head injury associated with these defective airbags. At least five fatalities are linked to the defective airbags. Burbank personal injury lawyers are also aware of dozens of injuries linked to these airbags.