Takata Details Airbag Inflator Recalls, Drops One Design

Today Takata Corp. is scheduled to tell a U.S. House subcommittee it will stop making "batwing-shaped" inflators for driver-side airbags.

The batwing design is among several configurations included in the nearly 34 million inflators Takata has identified for recall in U.S. vehicles. The recalled devices are roughly half driver-side and half passenger-side inflators.

The company says it will continue to use ammonium nitrate as the propellant in all its inflators. The chemical is less expensive but also more volatile than explosives used by other airbag suppliers. Takata declares the phase-stabilized blend it introduced several years ago is "safe and effective" when "properly engineered and manufactured."

The massive Takata inflator call back is being orchestrated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency has authority to coordinate recalls of common parts used by multiple carmakers, thus enabling it to manage parts availability by scheduling highest-risk vehicles first. U.S. antitrust laws make it difficult for manufacturers to synchronize such recalls themselves.

Takata says the driver-side inflator recall will begin with the oldest effected vehicles in high-humidity, high-temperature regions, where failures are believed to be most likely. The campaign will then widen to newer models in the same regions and then to vehicles nationwide. The final stage will replace batwing-type inflators used in previous callbacks to replace factory-installed devices.

The driver-side inflator campaigns will affect vehicles made by BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Honda and Mazda, according to Takata.

Carmakers also will recall three types of passenger-side inflators none of them batwing designs. Takata says the units may be affected by long exposure to heat and humidity, but it adds that manufacturing errors also may play a role.

One passenger-side design will be recalled nationwide in four waves, beginning with the oldest affected models. Takata says the two other designs involve call backs in high heat/high humidity regions but could be expanded if further NHTSA research indicates a broader problem.

The passenger-side inflator recalls will be carried out by Daimler Trucks, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, General Motors, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.