WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co. must remove 3 million vehicles with potentially defective Takata airbags next to the driver, the U.S. car safety regulator said Tuesday, rejecting an offer from the second-largest U.S. automaker to avoid a withdrawal.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it denied requests filed by Ford and Mazda Motor Corp. in 2017 to prevent the withdrawal of vehicles with potentially dangerous inflators. The decision will also force Mazda to recover and repair the driver’s airbags in approximately 5,800 vehicles. Withdrawals will cover several vehicles from the 2006 model to 2012.
The defect, which in rare cases leads to the rupture of air cushion inflators and the sending of potentially deadly metal fragments, especially after long-term exposure to high humidity, led to greater car withdrawal. of US history of more than 67 million inflatables. Worldwide, some 100 million inflators have been recalled installed by 19 major automakers.
The NHTSA said “evidence shows that these inflators pose a significant security risk.”
Earlier this month, the car safety agency said at least 17 million vehicles with Takata airbags remain unrepaired.
Takata inflatables have killed at least 27 people worldwide and 18 in the United States, and more than 400 people have been injured.
Ford said Tuesday that vehicles the NHTSA was ordering to be removed were subject to a previous removal of Takata by the passenger side airbag, but did not comment further.
Mazda did not comment immediately.
The withdrawal will apply to several Ford Ranger, Fusion, Edge, Lincoln Zephyr / MKZ, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKX vehicles, along with 2007-2009 Mazda B-Series vehicles. Mazda vehicles were designed by Ford, built on the same platform and used the same air cushion inflators as Ranger trucks.
The regulator said Ford will have to submit within 30 days “to NHTSA a proposed timetable for notifying vehicle owners and launching an appeal.”
Two people died in Takata air cushion breaks in 2006 Ford Ranger vehicles previously remembered with the most recent death in 2017.
In November, the NHTSA said it was rejecting a petition filed by General Motors to prevent the withdrawal of 5.9 million U.S. vehicles with Takata airbags.
In November, the agency said GM should recall 2007-2014 model trucks and SUVs. GM estimated in the filing that it would cost $ 1.2 billion if it had to replace the airbag inflators it had tried to avoid fixing, and said it would recover 7 million vehicles worldwide.
(Report by David Shepardson; Edited by Richard Pullin and Leslie Adler)
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