Ford (NYSE:F) Recalls Due to Issues With the Airbag

Ford (NYSE:F) has been getting a lot of pressure from the U.S government and due to the pressure, the company has announced that on Thursday it will hold a worldwide recall of driver-side air bag. The company has already recalled 502,489 vehicles for Takata driver-side airbags. Apart from Takata, another 36,000 vehicles were recalled by Ford (NYSE:F) for passenger-side airbags. The airbags can cause harm by sending shots to drivers and passengers. Most vehicles that have been recalled so far were in high-humidity regions.

Since 2013 till now, about 10 automakers have recalled over 11.5 million automobiles with Takata airbags. The automakers have not yet been able to understand the reason that is causing the entire problem with the driver-side, and according to Takata the issue is minor and not really serious. However, last week the automakers gathered in Romulus to talk about hiring an outside engineer who can do an independent testing.

The expanded recall carried out by Ford (NYSE:F) comprises 2005-2008 Mustang cars at the Flat Rock Assembly and 2005-2006 GT vehicles at the Wixom Assembly Plant in Michigan.

Ford (NYSE:F) declared that the latest recall comprises of 462,911 automobiles in U.S, 27,516 in Canada and 7,578 vehicles in Mexico. Outside North America the company has recalled 4,484 vehicles.

To back the nationwide recall, NHTSA related an incident from August in which a driver’s side airbag caused a problem in North Carolina in 2007 Ford (NYSE:F) Mustang. The incident caused some cuts and burns to the driver.

NHTSA’s Deputy Chief David Freidman while talking to the reporters said that one incident is an exception but two becomes a trend. NHTSA in its quest for a recall demanded Takata to abide but did not approach the automakers.

Takata expanded the recall in areas which are high in humidity because it believes that such areas cause the airbags to fail.

Honda Motor Co. has agreed to obey NHTSA’s and therefore decided to recall 2.6 million vehicles while Mazda agreed to recall 250,000 vehicles. However BMW, Chrysler and AG have not yet agreed upon recalling.

Friedman made a statement in which he said that he will make the companies agree on recalling for the betterment of public if the need comes.

Friedman said that the company will go to the court to force Takata and other automakers to obey the recalling rule.

The inflators in the airbag can get exploded and that can send sharp flying objects at both the driver as well as he passenger. There have been reports of at least 5 deaths which blame Takata airbags. About 50 injured people are lying in the hospitals and all of this took place in a region that has high-humidity. All the 5 deaths took place in the Honda, 4 of them died in United States. Honda decided to recall 5.4 million automobiles in the U.S for driver side airbag. The company said that it will purchase the airbags from some other company but it will take at least 6 months before the company can start to buy necessary parts.