BMW issues warning, Ford recalls thousands of older vehicles over air bags
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Ford and BMW have become the latest carmakers to announce warnings or recalls related to problems with air bags made by the now-defunct Takata. BMW this week issued a “Do Not Drive” warning for 90,000 vehicles built from 2000 to 2006 and already covered by the Takata recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urged consumers to check whether their vehicles were covered, and emphasized that there was a “dire” risk to drivers of the BMWs.
That came on the heels of an announcement last week by the agency of another recall for more than 230,000 Ford Rangers built from 2004 to 2006. Those vehicles may have replacement air bags that were incorrectly installed during the original Ranger recall, NHTSA said.
Owners can enter their vehicle identification numbers on NHTSA’s website to see whether their vehicles fall under the warning.
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“If you have a model year 2000-2006 BMW with a recalled Takata air bag, get it repaired immediately — for free,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said in a statement. “These inflators are two decades old now and, with every day that passes, they become even more dangerous as they can rupture even in a minor crash.”
The air bags have defective inflators that can explode or not inflate properly when deployed, NHTSA said.
In November, Dodge and Chrysler announced “Do Not Drive” orders because of the exploding air bags issue.
Separately, tens of millions of vehicles are covered by an ongoing recall involving the risk of exploding Takata air bags, but additional problems with its air bags continue to be discovered. Takata was forced into bankruptcy in 2017 because of all the scandals, problems and resulting lawsuits, and pleaded guilty to criminal wrongdoing. NHTSA has forced at least 67 million Takata air bags to be recalled since 2013. Takata in 2018 agreed to pay $650 million to settle lawsuits filed by dozens of states over the air bags.
Joyson Safety Systems, which acquired most of Takata’s assets in 2018, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
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Source: The Washington Post
