The Washington Post says that anew report on recalls of potentially deadly Takata air bag inflators “shows that automakers have replaced only 43 percent of the faulty parts even though recalls have been under way for more than 15 years.” The report, “issued Friday by an independent monitor who is keeping tabs on the recalls, also shows that auto companies are only about halfway toward a Dec. 31 goal of 100 percent replacement of older and more dangerous inflators.” The slow completion rate “comes even though the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began coordinating the recalls and phasing them in two years ago.” Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) “blamed the slow pace on a lack of leadership at NHTSA, which has been without its top administrator since the end of the Obama administration in January.” He said, “We still don’t have any leadership at NHTSA to ensure this stuff actually gets done by the automakers. … Until the agency gets a permanent administrator this recall is going to continue to drag on while the injury and death toll mounts.”
NHTSA rejects Ford petition to delay recall of 3 million vehicles. Reuters reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “said on Friday it was rejecting a petition by Ford Motor Co (F.N) to delay recalling about 3 million vehicles with potentially defective air bag inflators to conduct additional testing.” The agency “said it did not find the request by the second largest U.S. automaker ‘reasonable under the circumstances or supported by the testing and data it has collected to date.’” NHTSA “also rejected a similar petition filed by Mazda Motor Co. covering about 6,000 vehicles.” Mazda said in a statement it “takes our customers’ safety as a single-minded top priority and continues to work hand-in-hand with NHTSA.” The public “can comment on NHTSA’s decision until Dec. 18 on both Ford and Mazda’s petitions.”
NHTSA announces new investigation into VW airbag issue. Reuters reported the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “said Friday it is opening an investigation into potential air bag failure in 415,000 Volkswagen vehicles after the German automaker issued a recall for the same issue in 2015.” The agency “said it had 90 complaints of problems after the recall was announced including some reports of problems after owners had repairs completed.”
AutoWeek provided similar coverage.
Mitsubishi recalls 84,000 cars. The AP reports Mitsubishi “is recalling nearly 84,000 small cars in the U.S. because the air bags may not inflate in a crash.” The recall “covers certain Mirage models from 2014 through 2018. The company says the safety restraint computer can interpret road vibrations or a flat tire as a sensor error and disable the car’s seven air bags.”
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
