Only 10% of Recalled Airbag Inflators Replaced

Repairs have been made to fewer than 2 million of the 17 million vehicles recalled in the U.S. to replace Takata Corp. airbag inflators that could explode, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says.

The callbacks over the past six years cover a variety of mostly older models located in high-humidity regions. The campaigns are being conducted by BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.

NHTSA urges consumers to determine whether their vehicles are part of the recalls by visiting the agency's safercar.gov Web site and typing in their vehicle's VIN.

Five fatalities, all of them involving Honda vehicles, have been linked to the flawed airbags. Takata is scrambling to increase capacity to make replacement inflators, but no one is exactly sure why the original units fail.

Last week frustrated NHTSA officials began levying a $14,000 daily fine against Takata for failing to fully cooperate with the agency's investigation into the problem.