New York - BMW has agreed to demands from the government to expand a recall of driver's-side airbags to the entire United States.
The recall affects 140 000 BMW 3 Series cars made between January 2004 and August 2006. The company is calling its move a “voluntary improvement campaign” rather than a recall. It says no problems with BMW vehicles have been reported. Earlier this year the company took about 574 000 cars off the market in the United States.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been pushing companies to recall older cars with airbag inflators made by Takata that can explode with too much force and shoot shrapnel at drivers and passengers. At least five deaths have been blamed on Takata inflators.
Several automakers have been slow to expand the recall. Ford joined the list last week and was quickly followed by Chrysler.
TAKATA NOT COMING TO THE PARTY
BMW is the last automaker to agree to a nationwide recall, and about 15 million cars have been recalled in the United States in total. Initial recalls were limited to states with high levels of humidity, as the NHTSA says the airbag inflator propellant, ammonium nitrate, can burn faster than designed if exposed to prolonged airborne moisture.
When that happens, the propellant can blow apart a metal canister meant to contain the explosion.
Takata has refused the agency's request for a nationwide recall of driver's side inflators, about eight million in total, and it says it has tested more than 1000 airbag inflators from other regions without a single failure. But the company will still make replacement parts for the car companies that are expanding their recalls. It hasn't been decided whether Takata or the carmakers will pay the extra costs involved.
In total, 10 car companies have models with Takata driver and passenger airbags. There could be as many as 30 million such vehicles vehicles in use in the United States.
BMW SA Customer Care says it has already recalled all E46 BMWs in South Africa made between 1999 and 2006 for the airbag replacement, about 72 000 cars in all, of which it estimates about 47 000 are still on the road.
Sapa-AP