While news of defective airbags and auto recalls is probably familiar to Ohio residents, many people might not know that automakers are still allowed to sell and equip vehicles with potentially defective parts. Takata air bags have been linked to 100 injuries and 10 deaths, but four companies are still installing them in new vehicles.
The questionable air bags from Takata lack a chemical drying agent for the ammonium-nitrate inflators, and these air bags could explode when deployed with enough force and send metal pieces into the vehicle where motorists and passengers are located. Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota and Mitsubishi still put the unsafe inflators in new vehicles and are able to do so because of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration order as long as vehicles with these air bags are recalled before the end of 2018 or earlier.
Manufactures can sell vehicles that they know could face recalls later, and the auto companies do not have to tell buyers about what they know before a purchase. It seems like new vehicles with the defective airbags are safer than older vehicles because the air bags typically fail partly due to age, heat exposure and humidity. Not every manufacturer listed the models that use Takata airbags, but the vehicles that are known to have these airbags include the 2016 Volkswagen CC, 2016 and 2017 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, 2016 Audi TT and the Audi R8.
Defective auto parts have the potential to cause serious injuries, not only to the driver of the car but to passengers in the vehicle as well as to occupants of other cars on the road at the time. A personal injury attorney could be of assistance to those who have been harmed in an accident caused by such a defect by filing a products liability lawsuit against the manufacturer.