May 29, 2015—On Thursday, Automakers were adding millions of cars to their respective lists of models to be recalled due to the potentially dangerous Takata airbag inflators, according to a report in USA Today.
Fiat Chrysler said another 1.4 million vehicles globally will be added to the list, and Honda announced an addition of 350,000 in the U.S.; BMW added 420,100 in the U.S.
In total, eleven automakers in the U.S. have been affected by the Takata airbag recalls, and it’s likely that more vehicles will be added once the recall details are sorted out, the report said.
This is a follow-up to last week’s announcement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that the number of vehicles in the recall would be doubling to 33.8 million.
The airbags made by Takata were deemed dangerous due to inflators that can explode when deployed in a crash, sending shards of plastic or metal at the driver or passengers.
They have been blamed in six deaths. The issues were reported to have been worse in states with high humidity.
Honda has said that it is now trying to figure out whether the automaker may have been registered in any of the high humidity states states that could make the airbags deploy in a more dangerous way before a specific list is determined. This will take several weeks. Honda had previously recalled its 350,000 vehicles to fix driver’s side airbags and now the same vehicles are coming back to replace the passenger side.
"The vast majority of Honda and Acura vehicles impacted by last week's announcement were already covered by past recalls or safety improvement campaigns," says Bruce Smith, a vice president for American Honda. "In fact, many of these vehicles have already been repaired – we've replaced nearly 2 million inflators since 2013, most of those in the last nine months alone."
BMW found itself in the opposite situation as Honda. It had previously recalled 381,000 3-Series cars made between 2004 and 2006 to replace the airbags on the passenger side. Now it is issuing a recall to replace the driver’s side airbags. This time, the recall is for 2002-2006 with vehicles added that have not been subject to airbag recalls before. This included 28,500 5-Series sedans from 2002 and 2003, equipped with an optional sport steering wheel. Also included are 10,500 X5 crossovers from 2003 when equipped with the same wheel.
Here are the Honda models that have been recalled, according to USA Today:
- 2001-2007 Honda Accord
- 2001-2005 Honda Civic
- 2002-2006 Honda CR-V
- 2003-2011 Honda Element
- 2002-2004 Honda Odyssey
- 2003-2008 Honda Pilot
- 2006 Honda Ridgeline
- 2003-2006 Acura MDX
- 2002-2003 Acura TL
- 2003 Acura CL
- 2005 Acura RL
Here are the Fiat Chrysler models that have been recalled so far:
- 2004-2008 Dodge Ram 1500 pickups
- 2005-2009 Dodge Ram 2500 pickups
- 2006-2009 Dodge Ram 3500 pickups
- 2008-2010 Dodge Ram 4500 and 5500 cab chassis vehicles
- 2008-2009 Sterling 4500 and 5500 cab chassis vehicles
- 2004-2008 Dodge Durango full-size SUVs
- 2005-2010 Chrysler 300, 300C and SRT8 full-size sedans
- 2005-2010 Dodge Charger full-size sedans
- 2005-2010 Dodge Magnum full-size station wagons
- 2005-2011 Dodge Dakota small pickups
- 2006-2011 Mitsubishi Raider small pickups
The recalled BMW models:
- 2002-2006 3 Series
- 2002-2003 5 Series*
- 2003 X5*
*When equipped with optional sport steering wheel
In a separate action Thursday, Fiat Chrysler said it is also pulling back 2003 Dodge Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickups.