Takata Air Bags New Deadly defect Prompt Recall of 1.4 Million Cars

New Problems With Takata Air Bags Prompt Recall of 1.4 Million Cars The recall affects cars with certain air bags produced by Takata between 1995 and 1999.

A driver in Australia was killed by an air bag malfunction, and another Australian and a driver in Cyprus were injured in similar mishaps, according to government documents.

The recently discovered malfunction is different than the defect that led to at least 24 deaths and hundreds of injuries worldwide, though the result, like the earlier issue, leads to air bags that can explode and hurl shrapnel, killing or injuring people.

Components Takata supplied to five of the world’s biggest car manufacturers may absorb moisture that could either cause air bags to rupture or under-inflate, according to a notice on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website. The recall involves parts produced from 1995 through 1999 and sold to BMW, Volkswagen AG’s Audi, Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

BMW documents to the National Highways Traffic Safety Administrator (NHTSA) reveal the affected airbags were made before 1999 and were not sealed properly.

In addition, certain Audi, Honda, Toyota and Mitsubishi vehicles made from 1995 to 2000 also are being recalled, but information on which models was not available Wednesday.

Past Takata recalls were blamed on its use of ammonium nitrate as a propellant to inflate air bags in the event of a crash. For its latest safety campaign, the company is citing a manufacturing issue that affected inflators containing a non-azide propellant.

Takata says in government documents that it made about 4.5 million of the inflators worldwide but that only a portion are still in use because the vehicles are so old. The faulty inflators have problems with insufficient seals.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statementthat it is in discussions with automakers about the recalls. It urged owners to search for recalls in the coming weeks by entering their vehicle identification number at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls