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Takata airbag recall expands to millions more cars

Five automakers expanded their recall lists of cars with defective Takata airbag inflators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it may take several weeks before automakers verify which cars need to be recalled. 

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Rebecca Cook/Reuters/File
A flag with the Takata logo flies alongside an American flag outside the Takata Corporation in Auburn Hills, Michigan. iat Chrysler, Honda, and several other automakers expanded their recall lists of cars with defective Takata air bag inflators this week.

Five automakers expanded their official lists of recalled cars that may have defective Takata airbags Thursday, more than a week after the Japanese airbag manufacturer agreed to recall nearly 34 million of its a inflators.

Fiat Chrysler has expanded its recall an additional 1.14 million cars in the US; 4.5 million total cars from the automaker have been recalled in the US for issues with passenger and driver-side airbags, according to documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ford added about 361,500 vehicles to its list, while BMW added about 420,600 to the recall.

Mitsubishi recalled nearly 83,000 vehicles, including 2004-2006 Mitsubishi Lancer and Lancer Evolution. Nissan told NHTSA that although it has previously issued recalls related to defective Takata airbags, none of Nissan's vehicles were affected by last week's recall. 

Honda also announced Thursday it is recalling an additional 350,000 cars, bringing its total recall of Honda and Acura vehicles to approximately 6.28 million. Honda is working with four different suppliers, including Takata, to manufacture replacement parts, Senior Vice President Bruce T. Smith said in a Thursday press release.

Last week, Takata and NHTSA reached an agreement for the airbag maker to declare 33.8 million airbag inflators defective. Not only did the announcement doubled the number of vehicles with potentially-dangerous inflators, but it also made the recall the biggest one for any consumer product in the US.

Takata's airbag inflators are potentially dangerous because they can rupture and send metal shards at drivers and passengers. Six deaths have been connected to the exploding inflators worldwide. The problem is potentially more dangerous in states with high humidity, because moisture contributes to the bags' rupture.

This week's wave of auto recalls may not be the last. NHTSA says automakers are still working on identifying all affected vehicles, and it may take several more weeks before the process is complete. Because the recall is ongoing, car owners who look up recalled cars using their vehicle identification number (VIN) may need to check periodically to determine if their car is part of the recall.

Dealers for recalled vehicles were notified of the actions on Thursday. Automakers will send notification letters to owners of recalled vehicles in mid-July.

Congress's Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade is also scheduled to have a hearing on Tuesday, June 2 at 2 p.m. The hearing webcast will be available at http://energycommerce.house.gov/. 

Once automakers finish verifying which cars have defective airbags, car owners can use their VIN to look up recalled cars on NHTSA's VIN search tool. Car owners can also file a vehicle safety complaint to NHTSA here. 

Below is a list of automakers that have added vehicle models included in the Takata airbag recall:

Mitsubishi

  • 2004-2006 Lancer/Lancer Evolution
  • 2004 Lancer Sportback

Ford

  • 2004-2006 Ranger

BMW

  • 2002-2005 325i/325xi/330i/330xi Sedan
  • 2002-2005 325xi/325i Sports Wagon
  • 2002-2006 330Ci/325Ci/M3 Convertible
  • 2002-2006 325i/330i/M3 Coupe
  • 2002-2003 BMW M5/540i/525i/530i Sedan
  • 2002-2003 540i/525i Sports Wagon
  • 2003-2004 X5 3.0i/4.4i Sports Activity Vehicle

Fiat Chrysler

  • 2005-2009 Dodge Ram 2500 Pickup
  • 2004-2008  Dodge Ram 1500 Pickup
  • 2006-2009  Dodge Ram 3500 Pickup
  • 2007-2009 Dodge Ram 3500 Cab Chassis
  • 2008-2010  Dodge Ram 4500/5500 Cab Chassis
  • 2008-2009 Sterling 4500/5500 Cab Chassis
  • 2004-2008 Dodge Durango
  • 2007-2008 Chrysler Aspen
  • 2005-2010 Chrysler 300/300C/SRT8
  • 2005-2010 Dodge Charger/Magnum
  • 2005-2011 Dodge Dakota
  • 2006-2010 Mitsubishi Raider
  • 2003 Dodge Ram 1500/2500/3500

Honda

  • 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

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Fiat Chrysler was recalling an additional 4.5 million vehicles in the US this week. This week's recalls bring Fiat Chrysler's total vehicles recalled related to the Takata airbag issue in the US  to 4.5 million. Worldwide, Fiat Chrysler has recalled 5.2 million vehicles related to the Takata airbag problem. 

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