Takata recalls grow increasingly “uncomfortable” for industry players

The recalls stemming from potentially faulty Takata airbags continue to pour in, with a handful of OEMs in the US announcing fresh or expanded recalls over the past few days. In May Takata expanded its list of defective airbag inflators to include all ammonium nitrate-based propellant driver and passenger frontal air bag inflators without a chemical drying agent. This covers an estimated 35-40 million additional airbag inflators, on top of the millions of inflators previously recalled. In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is requiring all vehicle manufacturers named in the Takata reports on these new airbags to initiate recalls.