Will Your Next Car Have a Defective Air Bag?

More than 60 million Takata air bag inflators in U.S. vehicles may eventually be recalled. That would mean one in every four cars would be affected, CBS MoneyWatch reports:

“If you think the Takata air bag problem doesn’t apply to your car, you may be in for a surprise. As the scope of the defect gets ever wider, thousands of consumers may be unknowingly driving cars that include the faulty Takata air bag inflators.”

According to CBS, an investigation by Democrats on the Senate Commerce Committee found that four auto manufacturers are still selling new cars with defective air bags. The manufacturers are:

• Fiat Chrysler
• Mitsubishi
• Toyota
• Volkswagen

It’s legal for the companies to sell the cars, but they must be recalled by 2018, Reuters reported.

To find out if your current vehicle is affected, you can use the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Recalls Look-up by VIN” tool.

Consumer Reports recommends that owners whose cars are affected by the expanding recalls have the necessary work performed as soon as replacement parts are available and the service can be scheduled.

Service for this particular recall may be especially pressing if:

• You have an older recalled car. Takata air bag inflator age has been determined to be a key factor in most of the air bag ruptures so far. So the older an air bag is, the most susceptible it might be to rupture.
• You live in a hot, humid region. Takata inflators “seem to be vulnerable to persistent high humidity and high temperature conditions, such as in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, the Gulf Coast states, Hawaii, and island territories,” according to Consumer Reports. The publication notes, however, that deaths have been confirmed in other regions, so no one should ignore the recall.

What’s your take on the expanding Takata recalls? Share your thoughts on the latest news below or on Facebook.