The Biggest Recall In U.S. History is in Effect Worldwide after 24 people Died and Over 200 injured

A worldwide recall is in effect for the millions of vehicles containing Takata airbags known to be faulty and deadly. This is the largest, most complex vehicle recall in U.S. history according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In the U.S. alone, it currently involves 19 vehicle manufacturers, 50 million vehicles, and over 65 million Takata airbag Inflators that have already claimed the lives of 24 victims and injured more than 200 others.

This recall already broke the record set in 2004 of 30 million recalls and by December of 2019, more recalls are scheduled to take place that will bring the total number of recalls up to nearly 70 million nationwide and 100 million worldwide.

The first thing to note is, not all vehicles that contain these dangerous, defective Takata airbags have been recalled as of this time. Out of 70 million automobiles that these faulty airbags have been installed in, only 50 million were recalled so far. Thus, the remaining vehicles are scheduled to be recalled by December of 2019.

Therefore, just because your car has not been recalled, doesn’t mean you are out of the danger zone as yet since it may still be scheduled to be recalled in the near future.

What you can do in the meantime is, check your owner’s manual for details on the airbags installed in your vehicle, or if you purchased the car from a dealership, try contacting them.

This brings us to another critical detail you should know about; whoever sold or rented you your car, is not required to let you know if the vehicle is under recall that they are aware of, whether it’s a dealership, a rental company, or a seller off the street.

Another thing to note is that certain vehicles pose a much bigger threat of air bag explosions than others. These vehicles include:

• Mazda B-Series trucks
• 2006 Ford Rangers
• Certain 2001-2003 Acura and Honda vehicles

What makes these airbags so dangerous is; Takata failed to add a drying agent while using ammonium nitrate in the airbag propellants to create the explosion that would inflate the airbags. Therefore, when exposed to moisture/ humidity or high temperatures, ammonium nitrate may degrade and deteriorate. A degraded ammonium nitrate propellant and ignition of an airbag inflator can explode forcefully and shatter the inflator/container sending sharp metal pieces, known as shrapnel, flying into the cabin which can injure or kill both the passenger and driver.

In fact, many people have died horrifically and a lot more were injured due to these defective airbags exploding and sending shards of metal into their necks, faces, and heads. Some of the less fortunate was hit in the neck cutting into their carotid artery causing them to bleed to death. Others suffered severe brain wounds which resulted in death.

Because containing these airbags in high humidity and/or extremely hot temperatures pose the biggest threats, recalls are being carried out first in high humidity areas and regions with extremely hot temperatures.

All it takes is a hit big enough to deploy the airbags in your vehicle for — what might have been a small fender bender accident — to turn deadly. In fact, many of the accidents that caused the airbags to burst were small hits taken by slow-moving vehicles.

However, the real shocker came on June 18, 2016, when Ramon Kuffo was working on the interior of his 2001 Honda Accord. While sitting in the driver’s seat, Ramon was tapping something with a hammer which caused his airbags to ignite, deflate, and explode, shooting out fragments of the shattered inflator at him like bullets and Ramon was killed.

May 27, 2009, 18-year-old Ashley Parham, just days after graduating high school, was on her way to pick up her brother at his school in her 2001 Honda Accord when she bumped another car while driving slowly through the high school parking lot trying to find a parking spot.

Needless to say, the airbags were ignited, deployed and exploded rupturing the container and sending shards of metal her way so fast she didn’t stand a chance. One of the shards hit Ashley in her neck, slicing her carotid artery open, causing the teenager to bleed to death in her seat.

A young girl who was a recent graduate, former cheerleader, and community volunteer with a whole life ahead of her was taken from us that quickly, even though she was following all the rules by wearing her seatbelt and driving slowly according to News 9 a local news TV station. While Takata and Honda didn’t take the fault they did, however, agree to an undisclosed settlement with Ashley’s family.

September 13, 2013, Hai Ming Xu was driving down the streets of Alhambra, California in his 2002 Acura when he hit a building. Of course, the airbags were deployed and must have been degraded since the inflator exploded and metal shards darted out right into his face. Hai Ming’s face was severed so badly that responders thought he was shot in the face several times. It wasn’t until the coroner’s report came out that they knew the truth. Mr. Xu suffered severe facial trauma that resulted from fragments of metal objects that broke off the airbags.

July 19, 2017, 34-year-old Nichol Lynn Barker was driving in Holiday Florida with her mom and her two children in the car when another driver failed to yield the right of way and struck her 2002 Honda Accord. Her airbags deployed and the propellants blew, sending shards of shrapnel throughout the cabin.

Fortunately, Nichol’s kids and mom survived the incident with just a few minor injuries. Unfortunately, Nichol didn’t make it; she suffered severe traumatic brain and facial injuries due to the metal shrapnel from the airbags and was pronounced dead at a hospital nearby. According to the accident report, Ms. Barker’s wounds included: A skull fracture, a large gaping wound by her left temple, and bleeding of the brain.

This is not even half of the horrific, traumatizing, and heartbreaking incidents that took the lives of so many innocent people, who would have still been with us today had someone said something about the many failed airbag tests that were going on behind the scenes at Takata according to some of their top employees who wish to remain anonymous.

What I would like to know is, what made them think that they would get away with selling faulty airbags to auto manufacturers? They must have known that when people get hurt because of these faulty airbags it would fall back on them as it did. Now they are going bankrupt because of this.

What I'm trying to say is, they must have known they would get caught and lose everything when they do, so why did so many people have to die?

It worries me that many people are still driving around with these faulty airbags without a clue as to what’s going on. They have no idea what kind of danger they are in and nobody is even talking about this.

They say that out of every 5 cars at least one has a Takata airbag installed. What? Do you realize how many cars that is? Yet they are only going to recall 100 million cars. You have got to be kidding me!

Something’s not right here people. Didn’t we just lose 124 lives to faulty ignitions switches back in 2014/2015 where there were only 8.4 million recalls? Now we're talking 100 million recalls, which is a huge difference. Therefore, expect the death toll to rise substantially for this one. What’s the world coming to when you are not even safe to drive your own car anymore?

If they are not going to alert the public about what's going on than we will have to do it ourselves. Please spread the word to everyone you can about this recall, Let people know that they need to check to see if their car contains Takata airbags before they drive their car. If they do have Takata airbags they can probably get a loaner to drive until their airbags are replaced for free.

The defective airbags referred to as “Alpha” airbags, are manufactured by a company in Japan called “Takata”. Anyone operating a vehicle containing Takata Alpha airbags is in great danger.

To find out if your vehicle is on the list of recalls, write down your vehicle identification number or VIN # and click here to visit the website set up by the NHTSA. Your car’s VIN # can usually be found on your car title, registration, insurance policy, on the driver’s side door jamb, or on the driver’s side top of the dashboard that can be seen through the windshield.

If your car is not on the recall list then it may still have Takata airbags installed but just wasn't recalled yet. Find out who the manufacturer of your airbags are and if it is Takata, DO NOT DRIVE IT UNTIL THE AIRBAGS ARE REPLACED! You can have them replaced for free by contacting your dealership or the car manufacturer. If your car is on the recall list, STOP DRIVING IT UNTIL THE AIRBAGS ARE REPLACED! Contact your dealer or the manufacturer of your car for instructions on replacing the airbags free of charge and they may even provide you with a loaner to use until your car is safe to drive.