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'Largest Recall In American History': Takata To Recall Nearly 70 Million Airbags (nbcnews.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Federal regulators are ordering Japanese supplier Takata to recall as many as 40 million additional airbags linked to a defect already blamed for at least 11 deaths, bringing the total number of faulty airbags in the U.S. to 69 million. Previously, the recall involved about 24 million vehicles sold in the U.S. over roughly the last decade, with 14 manufacturers impacted. With the latest recall, almost every other major carmaker will now be pulled. "This is the largest recall in American history," National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Mark Rosekind told reporters on Wednesday. Initial estimates said 35-40 million airbags were to be recalled. And because some vehicles use more than one Takata airbag, the total number of vehicles will likely be smaller. Now it's considered highly likely that the total number of cars, trucks and crossovers will now top the 50 million mark, and as many as a quarter of all vehicles on U.S. roads could be covered. The NHTSA has reported that just over 8 million vehicles had been fixed as of April 22. The airbags have so far been tied to at least 10 U.S. deaths and more than 100 injuries -- two more fatalities in Malaysia were confirmed Wednesday. "The exploding airbags can send shrapnel into the faces and necks of victims, leaving them looking as if they had been shot or stabbed," according to Fox 59.
I'm a Honda owner. This is the SECOND TIME I've received an airbag recall for the same car. Also, it is NOT free. Honda may not charge me but I loose the opportunity to make money that day (My car is required to make money) so I'm a little miffed. How about replace it with something functional that won't be recalled again? Barring that, stop buying airbags from vendors that have shit for QA. Barring that, pay for my time off from work and make your statement of FREE actually true - meaning free in every sense of the word as in free loaner car while the recall is being addressed in the shop.
It is really annoying when someone says 'free' in the sense of "I'm not going to charge you." That isn't free, that is you are not charging me. Free would be the repair happens and I might as well not have noticed because it was free from cost, free from inconvenience, free from opportunity cost etc.,...
Otherwise, it's just yet another damned sales pitch.