Toyota, Honda, Nissan, General Motors and Mazda are recalling a total of 3.4 million vehicles around the world due to faulty airbags.
The airbags were all made by Japanese-based firm Takata for cars built between 2000 and 2004.
Edmunds.com said Thursday that additional recalls can be expected because Takata is a major supplier to automakers globally.
“This recall has the potential to expand to more automakers and more vehicles because Japan’s Takata is major supplier to automakers globally. This recall is an example of one of the downsides of using ‘super suppliers’ for important vehicle components,” said Michelle Krebs, Edmunds.com senior analyst.
“After the Toyota unintended acceleration debacle, automakers have been quick to issue recalls and so there have been a flurry of them in recent years. As a result, consumers may be tone deaf to them, but they should take seriously any recall – like this one – that is related to an important safety feature, especially an airbag, which involves pyrotechnics,” she said.
“In this particularly situation, a defective airbag could mean the propellant that sets off the airbag can burn too quickly and cause the metal container for the propellant to explode, which can send metal fragments throughout the vehicle. Some automakers have reported they know of some incidents of faulty deployments – but no injuries – that have resulted.”
About half the recalls involve Toyota, 1.14 million Hondas, 480,000 Nissans and 45,000 Mazdas.
General Motors, according to the Los Angeles Times, said it would recall about 55,000 Pontiac Vibes from the 2003 model year sold in the U.S. and Canada.
2010 tundra airbags deployed no reason. no injuries. started talking to Toyota november 2015, several calls to toyota corporate several promises would have answer in 30 days. they inspected black box,still no answer. where should i go from here?