Nearly a month after regulators announced they had identified all 33.8 million vehicles equipped with potential shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags, one auto maker says it’s not quite done, recalling about 88,000 more cars to the massive recall.
Fiat Chrysler announced over the weekend that 88,346 Dodge Challengers had been added to the company’s already robust recall for Takata-produced airbags, Bloomberg reports.
According to a notice to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the new recall covers model year 2008 to 2010 Challengers.
The addition of the vehicles was made after an audit by Chrysler found that they were “inadvertently excluded” from a recall issued in May.
The delay in identifying the models as part of the Takata recall is just the lastest issue for Fiat Chrysler, which has come under increased scrutiny from regulators for its slow-moving pace on recognizing recalls and fixing the safety issues.
On July 2, NHTSA held a special hearing on nearly two dozen Fiat Chrysler recalls affecting about 11 million vehicles. Regulators “tentatively concluded” at that time that the car company failed to adequately address the recalls.
“In my experience, Fiat Chrysler’s recall performance often differs from that of its peers,” Scott Yon, chief of NHTSA’s Vehicle Integrity Division, said during the hearing. “Fiat Chrysler takes a long time to produce the parts needed to get vehicles fixed. Their dealers have difficulty getting parts for recalls. Their customers have trouble getting recall repairs done. Fiat Chrysler’s recall remedies sometimes fail to remedy the defects they are supposed to fix.”
Consumers looking to see if their vehicles are part of the largest auto recall in history can check by entering their 17-digit VIN on SaferCar.gov, which will return a list of all recalls associated with a particular vehicle. The site also functions to provide regular updates on the status of this and other recalls of high interest.
Those who find their vehicles are part of the Takata recall will likely have to wait several weeks or months before repairs are available.
As part of its latest recall, Fiat Chrysler says dealers will replace the frontal airbag inflators. However, those parts aren’t currently available.
That’s because Takata has struggled in recent months to meet demands for replacement parts. The company recently announced it would increase its output of new parts to one million per month later this year.
But even if consumers do receive new airbags promptly, there’s still no guarantee those replacement safety devices are safe, as Takata, regulators and manufacturers have yet to identify what has caused the defect.
In fact in May, Takata confirmed that more than 400,000 vehicles that have been fixed through previous airbag recalls will have to undergo a second replacement.
To date, the Takata airbag recall has been linked to eight deaths and more than 100 injuries.
Chrysler Recalls Dodge Challengers to Fix Flawed Air Bags [Bloomberg]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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