On January 31st, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a recall concerning airbags installed into vehicles from Toyota Motor Corp, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, and Honda Motor Co. 2.1 million vehicles launched in the early 2000 are affected.
While 1 million of Honda’s and Toyota’s cars overlap with the Takata airbag recall from last year, the situation here is less severe. In 400 reported cases, the airbag deployed when the car was not involved in a crash, resulting in minor injuries. The Takata recall, if you can remember, involved exploding airbags, often affected by humid conditions, that released metal fragments during an accident.
All vehicles’ airbag systems have a defective chip, part of an electronic control unit supplied by manufacturer TRW, and had been the subject of three previous recalls from 2012 through 2014. In these instances, the automakers had a new electronic filter installed to protect the chip, but the recent recall requires the full system, including the circuits, to be replaced. As well, while the previous recalls appeared to address the issue, 39 of the fixed vehicles still experienced unintentional deployments.
However, it was reported that it may take nearly a year for automakers to obtain all parts necessary for repairing these vehicles. In the meantime, NHTSA recommended that owners of these vehicles request the previous repair, which has an 85-percent accuracy rate, while waiting for parts. For more information, consumers can contact the NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 or visit their website, at www.nhtsa.gov.
In total, 1 million cars from Toyota, 753,000 from Honda, and 374,000 from Chrysler were recalled and include the following models:
2002-2003 Jeep Liberty
2002-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees
2003-2004 Honda Odyssey
2003 Acura MDX
2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe
2003-2004 Dodge Viper
2003-2004 Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix, and Toyota Avalon
Trantolo & Trantolo’s lawyers have been directing such product liability claims as the GM ignition switch recall and those related to Takata airbags. If your vehicle with recalled components resulted in a serious injury to you or a loved one, contact any of our Connecticut law offices to have your claim reviewed.
