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| Carlos Solis was driving a familiar route, the few miles from his home to his brother’s apartment outside Houston, on a Sunday in January last year. His cousin sat beside him, and a dog was in the back seat. Just as they turned into the complex, their car, a 2002 Honda Accord, was hit. It was a low-speed collision with modest damage. Both front air bags deployed. Solis’s cousin got out of the car uninjured. The dog was fine, too. But Solis didn’t move. He’d been hurt, though at first it wasn’t obvious how. His cousin called Solis’s brother, Scott, who ran to the car. Scott tried to stanch the flow of blood from a deep wound in Solis’s neck; so did the paramedics. Solis died at the crash scene. An autopsy, now part of court records, showed that a round piece of metal the size of a hockey puck had shot out of the Accord’s air bag, sliced into Solis’s neck, and lodged in his cervical spine and shoulder. It severed his carotid artery and jugular vein and fractured his windpipe. Solis was 35 and the father of two teenagers. He was also the sixth person in the U.S. killed by an exploding air bag made by the Japanese company Takata. |
| At the heart of the problem is the airbag’s inflator, a metal cartridge loaded with propellant wafers, which in some cases has ignited with explosive force. If the inflator housing ruptures in a crash, metal shards from the airbag can be sprayed throughout the passenger cabin—a potentially disastrous outcome from a supposedly life-saving device. NHTSA has determined the root cause of the problem: airbags that use ammonium nitrate-based propellent without a chemical drying agent. As postulated early on, environmental moisture, high temperatures, and age as associated with the defect that can improperly inflate the airbags and even send shrapnel into the occupant. To date, there have been 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries due to this problem in the U.S. |
| June 1, 2016: Fiat Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Volkswagen confirm in a report from Florida Senator Bill Nelson that they are selling some new vehicles with airbags that contain Takata’s ammonium nitrate-based propellant in driver and passenger frontal airbag inflators without a chemical drying agent, also known as a desiccant. These vehicles will have to be recalled by 2018. |
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Originally Posted by smartcat
(Post 3989187)
The Takata airbag recall is the reason why I had pretty much decided to buy only new cars, and change old ones at 5 to 6 years. Those grenades fitted inside the dashboard are scary. And then came the news about Ford/Jaguar recalling even newer cars because of airbag inflator issue! :Frustrati So now, pre-owned cars are back on the menu. I think. :) |
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Originally Posted by Dr.Naren
(Post 3989373)
Baleno is the only car with Takata Airbags in my garage. |
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Originally Posted by smartcat
(Post 3989415)
How did you figure this out? Any way to find out which company airbags (and which rocket fuel!) is in a particular car? |
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Originally Posted by petroguzzler
(Post 3989461)
That's outright frustating. Is there any way to disable or remove airbag components? Imho, Driving without airbags would be safer than driving with these time ticking bombs in cars. |
| "There has been a debate whether to disconnect the devices in the meantime. But quite frankly, air bags, even Takata air bags, are saving more lives" than the injuries or deaths they're causing |
| A new congressional report shows that at least four automakers are still equipping vehicles with the type of Takata air bags that have been responsible for fatalities and injuries worldwide. Fiat Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Volkswagen acknowledged they've been installing the air bags in new vehicles. These are cars in current production that are using ammonium-nitrate air bag inflators without a chemical drying agent. |
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Originally Posted by smartcat
(Post 3989467)
This article is for you. Drivers of Takata-recalled cars should NOT do this http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/06/drive...t-do-this.html |
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Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain
(Post 3989496)
My Jazz was recently recalled for the airbag issue. |
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Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain
(Post 3989496)
My Jazz was recently recalled for the airbag issue. Interestingly, only the driver's airbag was changed. They insisted that the recall was for just that and the passenger side airbag was fine. |
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Originally Posted by smartcat
(Post 3989415)
How did you figure this out? Any way to find out which company airbags (and which rocket fuel!) is in a particular car? |
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Originally Posted by Dr.Naren
(Post 3989421)
SRS airbags come with pre tensioner seat belts. It comes as an unit which includes airbag control module, airbag sensors, airbags and pre tensioners made by same manufacturer most of the times. Seat belts in Baleno has a tag mentioning it's Pre Tensioner type, made by Takata. |
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Originally Posted by sid93
(Post 3989521)
does anyone know what airbags are used in VW polo? AM scared now :( |
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