WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co. must withdraw 3 million vehicles with potentially defective Takata airbags at the driver’s level, the US car safety regulator said on Tuesday, rejecting an offer from the second-largest US carmaker to avoid recall.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said it rejects petitions filed by Ford and Mazda Motor Corp. in 2017 to avoid the withdrawal of vehicles with potentially dangerous inflators. The decision will also require Mazda to remove and repair driver’s airbags in approximately 5,800 vehicles. The reminders will cover different vehicles from the 2006 to 2012 model years.
The defect, which in rare cases leads to the rupture of airbag inflators and sending potentially lethal metal fragments flying – especially after long-term exposure to high humidity – led to the largest car recall in US history of over 67 million of inflatables. Worldwide, about 100 million inflators have been installed by 19 major car manufacturers.
The NHTSA said that “the evidence clarifies that these inflators pose a significant safety risk”.
Earlier this month, the car safety agency said at least 17 million vehicles with Takata airbags remain undeveloped.
Takata inflammations have killed at least 27 people worldwide and 18 in the United States, and more than 400 injured have been reported,
Ford said on Tuesday that vehicles that NHTSA ordered to be withdrawn were subject to a previous Takata recall for the passenger airbag, but did not comment.
Mazda did not comment immediately.
The withdrawal will apply to various Ford Ranger, Fusion, Edge, Lincoln Zephyr / MKZ, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKX vehicles, along with the 2007–2009 Mazda B-Series vehicles. Mazda vehicles were designed by Ford, built on the same platform and used the same inflatable tires as Ranger trucks.
The regulator said Ford must, within 30 days, “submit to NHTSA a proposed program for notifying vehicle owners and launching a remedy.”
Two people died in the ruptures of Takata airbags in the 2006 Ford Ranger vehicles mentioned above, with the most recent death in 2017.
In November, the NHTSA said it was rejecting a petition by General Motors to avoid the withdrawal of 5.9 million US vehicles with Takata airbags.
In November, the agency said GM needs to remember the 2007-2014 trucks and SUVs. GM estimated in securities deposits that it would cost $ 1.2 billion if it had to replace the airbag inflators it tried to avoid repairing, and said it would withdraw 7 million vehicles worldwide.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Pullin and Leslie Adler)
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