WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co. is expected to recall 3 million vehicles with potentially defective Takata airbags on the driver’s side, the U.S. automotive safety regulator said on Tuesday, rejecting the second largest automaker’s offer. the US to avoid the recall.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it denied the petitions filed by Ford and Mazda Motor Corp. in 2017, aiming to avoid the recall of vehicles with potentially dangerous inflators. The decision will also require Mazda to recall and repair the driver’s airbags in approximately 5,800 vehicles. The recalls will cover several vehicles from 2006 to 2012 model years.
The defect, which on rare occasions leads to the rupture of airbag inflators and the launch of potentially deadly metal fragments – especially after prolonged exposure to high humidity – has triggered the largest automotive recall in the history of the United States, with more than 67 million inflators. Worldwide, nearly 100 million inflators installed by 19 major automakers have been collected.
NHTSA said that “the evidence makes it clear that these inflators pose a significant safety risk.”
Earlier this month, the automotive safety agency said at least 17 million vehicles with Takata airbags remained unrepaired.
Takata inflators resulted in the deaths of at least 27 people worldwide and 18 in the United States, and more than 400 injuries reported,
Ford said on Tuesday that the vehicles NHTSA was asking to be picked up were subject to a previous Takata recall for the passenger side airbag, but did not comment further.
Mazda did not immediately comment.
The recall will apply to several Ford Ranger, Fusion, Edge, Lincoln Zephyr / MKZ, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKX vehicles, along with Mazda 2007–2009 model year B-Series vehicles. Mazda vehicles were designed by Ford, built on the same platform and used the same airbag inflators as Ranger trucks.
The regulator said that Ford must within 30 days “submit to NHTSA a proposed schedule for notifying vehicle owners and launching a solution.”
Two people died due to Takata airbag ruptures in previously retrieved 2006 Ford Ranger vehicles, the most recent death in 2017.
In November, NHTSA said it was rejecting a petition filed by General Motors to avoid recalling 5.9 million U.S. vehicles with Takata airbags.
In November, the agency said GM should recall the 2007-2014 model year trucks and SUVs. GM estimated in stock records that it would cost $ 1.2 billion if it needed to replace the air bag inflators it tried to avoid and said it would recall 7 million vehicles worldwide.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Pullin and Leslie Adler)
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