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This new round of recalls, announced Wednesday, affects US-market vehicles from BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Honda and Subaru, among others. The problem with these already-repaired vehicles is that during the early stages of the recall, Takata replaced dangerous old inflators with new ones of the exact same design and chemistry.
FCA representatives are stating that, while a total of around 50,000 vehicles were affected since the first rounds of this particular recall went out in 2015, there are no new VIN numbers being added to the list. Meanwhile, Honda's representatives say the company's been working on this particular recall since June of 2019, six months before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decision.
According to a report Wednesday by Automotive News, Takata believed that since the problem with the inflators was exacerbated by time, temperature and humidity, replacing the inflators with new ones was the best way forward. It wasn't.
Eventually, Takata reformulated the inflator's explosive propellant, adding a drying compound that helps to preserve the unit for much longer. That's what's now being installed in many cars, even though Takata went out of business and was purchased by a Chinese company in 2018. Some companies have opted to go a different way entirely, sourcing airbag inflators from different companies that had nothing to do with Takata.
According to the NHTSA, more than 38 million vehicles have been repaired in the seven years since the recalls started. It also estimates that there were nearly 13 million still-defective parts installed in vehicles as of November 2019.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @07:02AM (3 children)
The chemistry gets blamed, but it actually was a superior chemistry. The problem was a combination of contamination and poor physical design.
Ammonium nitrate, which was used in the Takata inflators, is relatively non-toxic. (you could eat a small amount without trouble) The resulting gasses are relatively non-toxic. If the reaction were to be complete (not that this happens perfectly) the gasses would even be fully breathable with more oxygen content than air.
The other brands use awful chemicals like sodium azide. The azide compounds are horribly toxic, and the exhaust gasses are horribly toxic too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @01:33PM
Might be low toxicity chemistry but that hardly matters if the container is shattered--shards from the housing are what injure people.
As an armchair engineer, I wonder if the container could be modified so that even damp Ammonium nitrate (a bigger bang than the original design expected) would not damage the container. Could be a change to a more ductile material or modified design with thicker sections. Thinking further, even if the container stayed intact, the more powerful explosion might inflate the airbag too fast or too hard, which can also be dangerous.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 12 2020, @02:27PM (1 child)
The problem as I see it is an attitude that vehicles will be purchased, financed for 5 maybe 7 years, sold on the used market, driven another 3 to 5 years and disposed of. "Oh, our modules are going bad after 10 years, dear me, let's just replace them with the exact same thing - nobody keeps cars for 20+ years...."
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 13 2020, @08:32PM
yep, and i'm the "nobody" they are referring to...