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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: 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.