Are You in Danger From Your Car?
There are millions of cars out there with ticking time bombs in their dashboards … and steering wheels. Airbags with defective components produced by Takata, a Japanese company that supplied the components to 14 different automakers, who unknowingly installed them in their cars.
Some of these defective bags have spewed bits of metal – shrapnel – into people’s faces, killing at least ten and causing serious injury to 100.
Understandably, people who own cars with Takata airbags are nervous about going anywhere near their cars – let alone getting behind the wheel.
Much more could be injured – and possibly, killed – because there are so many cars in circulation that have the defective bags. Models from Honda (and its luxury line, Acura), Nissan (and its luxury line, Infiniti) as well as vehicles made by Toyota/Lexus, Subaru and Nissan.
But the problem is not confined to Japanese-brand cars. It turns out Takata also supplied airbags to General Motors, Chrysler and Ford, too. The affected cars – that we know about so far – date back to the 2002 model year all the way through to 2015.
The full extent of the problem is not yet known.
A massive recall effort (see here for details) is under way but the logistics are daunting. Literally millions of cars are involved and fixing them all – a major job requiring extensive disassembly of the dashboard and steering wheel – will take months if not years.
Meanwhile, the owners of these vehicles are expected to expose themselves and their families – to a known defective product that is known to be actually as well as potentially very dangerous.
This is pretty outrageous when you stop to think about it.
If, say, it was discovered that a fast food chain’s hamburgers were tainted with e. Coli bacteria, there would be an immediate cessation of the sale of those burgers. The chain would not be allowed to sell burgers again until it was known the outbreak had been contained and all the tainted beef taken out of circulation.
Of course, the problem is we’re dealing with cars, not burgers – and it’s hard to tell people they should simply stop using their cars until the problem can be fixed. It’s not realistic – and it’s not fair. People have to get to work, take their families where they need to go. It’s what they bought the car for – to get them around – and unless someone is going to give them a loaner, what else are they going to do?
Keep in mind, it’s not Honda – or Nissan or GM’s or Ford’s – fault. They can’t be expected to give out free long-term loaner cars.
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