Takata’s Airbags Are Dangerous and Deadly

Every airbag needs an inflator. Otherwise you’d just get hit with a flying sac of fabric in an accident. Inflators are typically metal cartridges with propellant wafers inside.

Takata used ammonium nitrate as their propellent and it quickly became clear that their inflators were deploying with too much force during an accident.

In fact, some inflators were exploding and sending metal shards flying throughout the cabin. Those shards have killed 9 people and injured 140 more.

What Makes the Inflators Explode

An Independent Testing Coalition found that:

1. The ammonium nitrate doesn’t include a substance to absorb moisture. In areas of high humidity the chemical can become highly unstable and dangerous.
2. The metal inflators aren’t designed to protect the ammonium nitrate from excess moisture.

Because of their vulnerability to moisture, the recalls have focused first on customers in the following locations:

• Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Saipan, Guam and American Samoa.

It’s important to note that not all of the recalled inflators contain ammonium nitrate.

PSDI-5 Inflators

In February 2016, Honda expanded their Takata recall list to include vehicles with PSDI-5 inflators. None of those particular inflators have exploded.

High Risk Vehicles

Certain 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles have been labeled as having a “high risk” of airbag inflator ruptures. In late June, 2016, NHTSA urged owners of these cars to stop driving immediately.

Vehicles that have spent a significant amount of time in areas of high-humidity — Florida, Texas, Gulf Coast, Southern CA, etc — have been found to rupture 50% of the time in laboratory settings.

“With as high as a 50 percent chance of a dangerous air bag inflator rupture in a crash, these vehicles are unsafe and need to be repaired immediately,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Folks should not drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately, free of charge.”

The “High Risk” List

• 2001-2002 Honda Civic
• 2001-2002 Honda Accord
• 2002-2003 Acura TL
• 2002 Honda CR-V
• 2002 Honda Odyssey
• 2003 Acura CL
• 2003 Honda Pilot

The vehicles in question were recalled between 2008 and 2011 and according to NHTSA 70% have been repaired. But that leaves approximately 313,000 vehicles that are ticking time-bombs. It is critical that they get fixed and replacement parts will be available immediately.

Own one these cars?

1. Visit SaferCar.gov to check whether their vehicle has any outstanding safety recalls.
2. Call your nearest dealer and schedule a no-cost, immediate repair

Which Vehicles Are Recalled?

Keeping track of which vehicles have been recalled is difficult — the recalls have been spread out over years, and sometimes expanded.

Luckily, you don’t have to keep track. Here’s the latest information:

What are Zones?

Takata recalls are increasingly being broken down into what NHTSA calls zones. A zone is a group of states and territories where a vehicle was originally sold or registered at some point in time. A few notes about zones:

1. A vehicle can be recalled in more than one zone.
2. When no zone is defined, the recall was more widespread. Possibly internationally.
3. If you find this all very confusing, you’re not alone my friend.

So, here we go:

• Zone A: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan) and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Zone B: Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
• Zone C: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

* Excludes C55 AMG, but includes the 2009-2011 C63 AMG. I know, right?

Last updated on July 1, 2016