BMW has issued a recall of 486 SUVs in the United States after an airbag malfunctioned in October, sending shrapnel into a driver’s lung, chest, and shoulder.
The recall is the latest affecting auto parts manufacturer Takata, whose airbags have been under investigation by US regulators for years – and are found in millions of vehicles worldwide.
The part in question is the driver-side airbag inflator, which is actually manufactured by ARC Automotive but used by Takata in its airbags. This device uses volatile chemicals to make a small explosion that rapidly inflates the airbag in the event of a crash.
Under certain circumstances, the metal canister holding the chemicals can explode in a crash, though, shooting metal shards into the car’s interior.
Twenty-seven deaths have been linked to faulty Takata airbags in the US, and at least 38 worldwide. More than 400 people have been injured by the airbags in the US alone.
The BMW X5 is one of three models affected by the recall. X3 and X4 SUVs are also included in the new recall, all built in 2014
Takata airbags have been linked to hundreds of injuries and dozens of deaths worldwide, and many defective units are still in vehicles
Takata airbags containing ARC inflators can degrade over time, which can cause the inflator to rupture in the event of a crash, sending metal shrapnel into the passenger compartment
In the latest recall, the vehicles affected include several models of BMW SUVs built between February and March 2014.
Because of how widespread the issue could be, the NHTSA has advised drivers to check its recall database by entering their vehicle identification number (VIN).
Takata has had about 67 million of its airbags recalled for safety issues, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Many defective units remain in cars on the road, though.
Takata filed for bankruptcy in 2017, after recalls and lawsuits had cost the company billions.
The issue stems from the chemicals that inflate the airbags.
When crash sensors at the front of your car detect a major impact, they send a signal to an onboard computer that triggers the inflator.
Inside an airbag inflator is a chemical that, when sparked, will degrade into harmless components.
In the early 1990s, this chemical was sodium azide, which rapidly decomposed into sodium and nitrogen upon detonation.
However, Takata switched to ammonium nitrate in the late ’90s – the same chemical that makes fertilizer suitable for homemade bombs.
The trouble began in 2004, when the first reports of dangerous airbag detonations began to surface.
In the time since, recalls have happened piecemeal, with different automakers recalling a small batch of vehicles at a time.
The true numbers of affected cars are in the tens of millions.
Even without any issues, an inflator works like a bomb. When you apply an electrical charge, it detonates.
The problem with defective Takata airbags occurs when heat and humidity cause the ammonium nitrate to decompose prematurely, so that when the airbag goes off, it explodes with way too much force.
When this happens, the inflator canister is torn apart, and the force of the explosion sends pieces of the canister tearing into whatever they can reach.
In the case of the new BMW recall, the inciting incident occurred in October when a driver was seriously injured by an airbag in a crash.
Shrapnel went into the driver’s lung, but they survived. BMW has said that it has not yet inspected the vehicle, according to the AP.
General Motors faced a similar recall earlier this year, but for almost a million vehicles. The US automaker blamed Takata for the problem.
But even when the units seem to be to blame, automakers have been slow to roll out the recalls, leading to additional lawsuits.
Mercedes-Benz, for instance, paid $12.5 million in fines last year for failing to promptly inform drivers about the airbags.
Officials predict that in 2024 the NHTSA will expand the airbag recall to include 52 million units produced by Takata.
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
