WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co to recall 3 million vehicles with potentially defective Takata driver-side airbags, the US auto safety regulator said Tuesday, rejecting a bid from the second-largest US automaker to avoid a recall.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it denied petitions filed by Ford and Mazda Motor Corp. in 2017 to prevent recall of vehicles with potentially dangerous inflators. The decision also requires Mazda to recall and repair driver airbags in approximately 5,800 vehicles. The recalls concern various vehicles from the 2006 to 2012 model years.
The defect, which in rare cases leads to the rupture of airbag inflators and the flying of potentially lethal metal fragments – especially after prolonged exposure to high humidity – triggered the largest recall in US history of more than 67 million inflators. Globally, about 100 million inflators installed by 19 major car manufacturers have been recalled.
The NHTSA said the “evidence makes it clear that these inflators pose a significant safety risk.”
Earlier this month, the auto safety agency said at least 17 million vehicles with Takata airbags have not yet been repaired.
Takata inflators have resulted in the deaths of at least 27 people worldwide and 18 in the United States, and more than 400 injuries reported,
Ford said on Tuesday that the vehicles the NHTSA ordered for a recall were subject to a previous Takata recall for the passenger airbag, but did not comment further.
Mazda did not immediately comment.
The recall applies to several Ford Ranger, Fusion, Edge, Lincoln Zephyr / MKZ, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKX vehicles, along with Mazda B Series models from model year 2007-2009. The Mazda vehicles were designed by Ford, built on the same platform, and used the same airbag inflators as the Ranger trucks.
The regulator said Ford must “submit a proposed schedule to the NHTSA for notification to vehicle owners and launch of a remedy” within 30 days.
Two people were killed in Takata airbag ruptures in previously recalled 2006 Ford Ranger vehicles with the most recent death in 2017.
In November, the NHTSA said it would reject a petition from General Motors Co to prevent the recall of 5.9 million US vehicles with Takata airbags.
In November, the agency said GM must recall the 2007-2014 model year trucks and SUVs. GM estimated in securities filings that it would cost $ 1.2 billion to replace the airbag inflators it had tried to keep from being repaired, and said it would recall 7 million vehicles worldwide.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Pullin and Leslie Adler