Ford’s latest safety recall of 3 million vehicles with potentially deadly Takata airbags will cost the automaker $610 million.
Ford tried to avoid the costly recall by petitioning against it in 2017, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rejected it. On January 19, NHTSA ordered Ford to carry out the recall of vehicles with these exploding airbags.
The Takata airbag inflators have a defect that causes rupturing, which sends shrapnel flying throughout the vehicles. The extent of injuries and deaths from this defect – at least 400 injuries and 27 deaths across the globe – prompted major recalls affecting more than 67 million inflators in the United States and about 100 million inflators globally.
Ford had previously recalled vehicles with faulty passenger-side airbags. Now, they will recall 2006–2012 Ford Ranger, Ford Fusion, Ford Edge, Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKX vehicles.
Other automakers, such as General Motors, also tried to petition to avoid recalling vehicles with affected airbags. NHTSA rejected those petitions.
Visit NHTSA’s website and check if your Ford vehicle is affected by this recall. Unsure of how to do that? Review our guide on recalls to learn how to navigate NHTSA’s website.
Source: Automotive News
