Between April and July 2013, six major auto manufacturers have announced recalls pertaining to front air bags. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration www.NHTSA.gov has been keeping track of complaints related to air bags made by Takata Corp. and sold to companies such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda as well as General Motors and Chrysler. In some cases just an inspection was required while some such as the Toyota and Chrysler recalls, electronic filters were added to prevent short circuits from deploying the air bags. Here is a breakdown by the numbers for American vehicles recalled.
The Toyota recall is an expansion of one started late last year involving an estimated 580,000 models including Corollas, Matrix, Sequoia SUV's and Tundra pickups manufactured in 2001-2003. Also included is the Lexus SC 430 and 2003 Pontiac Vibe models made in a joint Toyota plant.
Honda Motor Co. has announced that an estimated 680,000 Odyssey minivans, Civics and CR-V models from 2003-2004 may also have suspect air bags.
Nissan recalled approximately 265,000 Maximas, Pathfinders and Sentras manufactured 2001-2003. Also included was the Infiniti FX and GX4.
Mazda has only recalled around 40,000 of their RX8 and Mazda 6.
The two largest American car companies involved are GM and Chrysler.
Chrysler has an estimated 800,000 vehicles involved including Jeep Grand Cherokee, Liberty and Dodge Viper produced between 2002-2004.
The NHTSA recommended expanding GM's recall announced in January of this year from 6,900 involved vehicles to around 400,000. Included in these are the newer models of the Buick Verano as well as the Chevy Cruze, Sonic and Camaros. The GM recalls were to replace faulty air bag control coils.
The NHTSA also announced plans to be able to search specific VIN numbers for possible recalls and launching mobile apps to notify people even faster of recalls.
