Stellantis renewed their call to urge owners of about 29,000 old Dodge Ram pickup trucks and other vehicles with an installed Takata airbag to stop driving them after a passenger was killed by an exploding Takata airbag inflator last month.
The recall was renewed after a person was killed in a May 13 crash at an undisclosed location and scenario that caused the airbags to inflate. While authorities would not say where the crash happened or identify the victim, they confirmed the person was the owner of the car and has "succumbed to a serious injury consistent with those observed in previous Takata inflator failures," the company said in a prepared statement Tuesday (July 11).
The most recent death is the 26th in the United States alone since May 2009, with more than 30 other people killed worldwide. The deceased person was the first killed by an exploding front passenger airbag inflator, while the rest of the recorded deaths were drivers.
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How Do the Faulty Airbags Work?
The flawed Takata airbags use ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate airbags in a crash. However, the chemical can become more volatile over time when exposed to moisture in the air and repeated high temperatures. As a result, the explosion can rupture a metal canister and hurl sharp shrapnel into the passenger compartment.
While most of the deaths and about 400 injuries have happened in the US alone, they also have occurred in Australia and Malaysia.
The major malfunction of Takata airbags led to the largest series of auto recalls in US history, with at least 67 million Takata inflators involved. While the US government has repeatedly called upon owners not to drive their vehicles if they were affected by the recall, authorities say millions of units have not yet been repaired, despite having recalled about 100 million inflators worldwide.
Because of the issue, Japan's Takata Corp. went into bankruptcy.
While a majority of vehicle brands have been affected, Stellantis said the May crash was the fourth in its vehicles, which were initially recalled back in 2015. The company added six notices were sent to the owner's home. However, the recall repairs were not done, resulting in the owner's death.
Owners of all vehicles can check to see if their cars are covered by Takata recalls by going to https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls and keying in their 17-digit vehicle identification number.
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