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Ford Recalling 3 Million Vehicles With Potentially Faulty Air Bags


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WASHINGTON January 20, 2021; David Shepardson reporting for Reuters wrote that Ford Motor Co must recall 3 million vehicles with potentially defective driver-side Takata air bags, the U.S. auto safety regulator said on Tuesday, rejecting a bid by the second-largest U.S. automaker to avoid a recall.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was denying petitions filed by Ford and Mazda Motor Corp in 2017 seeking to avoid recalling vehicles with potentially dangerous inflators. The decision also will require Mazda to recall and repair driver air bags in approximately 5,800 vehicles. The recalls will cover various vehicles from the 2006 through 2012 model years.

The defect, which leads in rare instances to air bag inflators rupturing and sending potentially deadly metal fragments flying - especially after long-term exposure to high humidity - prompted the largest automotive recall in U.S. history of more than 67 million inflators. Worldwide, about 100 million inflators installed by 19 major automakers have been recalled.

The NHTSA said the “evidence makes clear that these inflators pose a significant safety risk.”