Takata Recall hits 33.8 Million: Is your car safe to drive?

Takata Corp. expanded its recall to 33.8 million vehicles on Tuesday, May 19, finally acknowledging that its airbags are defective after months of resisting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This is the largest auto recall in U.S. history.

The defective airbags leave millions of American drivers in danger, especially because drivers  don’t yet know which makes and models are affected. The list of recalled vehicles has been growing since last year, and the number of vehicles affected doubled as of the announcement on May 19th. The NHTSA and automakers are still working to sort out the “definitive list” of unsafe makes and models. Meanwhile, drivers are in the dark,  and may be in danger and not yet know it. All they can do is check safercar.gov frequently for updates.

The defective airbags manufactured by Takata have been linked to six deaths and over 100 injuries caused by metal shrapnel that is released into the cabin when the airbags deploy.   […]

Honda hit with record-setting $70 million fee; drivers remain unfazed

Honda Motor Co. has been hit with a record-setting $70 million fine after failing to report more than 1,700 injuries, deaths, and warranty claims linked to their vehicles. While this is the largest penalty ever imposed on an automaker by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car-buyers seem unfazed.

Honda has agreed to pay two fines, each for $35 million, for underreporting the number of injuries and deaths in their vehicles, as well as for the number of warranty claims, from 2003-2014. The number of injuries and deaths related to Honda’s vehicles is more than double what the company had initially reported.

The fines imposed on Honda were the highest allowed by law. This reflects the government’s “tough stance” on auto safety issues, continuing the trend we have seen over the last year.  Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx says last that the NHTSA issued more fines last year than in the rest of its entire history put together. […]

Attention, coffee lovers: Keurig recall

Popular coffee machine reportedly causes burns, Keurig recalls 7 million units

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.,  a popular manufacturer of single-cup coffee brewing systems,  issued a recall this morning on approximately 7 million of its coffee brewing machines in the United States following about 90 reports of burn injuries and 200 reports of product defects. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the defect allows hot liquid to escape during the brewing process, and in some cases this has caused burns.

Specifically, it is the Keurig MINI Plus Brewing System that is affected. The company is offering a free repair kit to customers whose Keurig brewers have been recalled.

In the meantime, Keurig states that it is safe for consumers to continue to use the coffee maker. According to their representatives, the machines are more likely to overheat and spit hot liquid when brewing multiple cups in quick succession. […]

Former Takata employees report secret testing to airbags in 2004

If there is one part of your vehicle that can save your life in the event of an accident, it may be your airbag. However, that might not be the case if your airbag was made by Takata. The New York Times reported that after learning that one of its airbags ruptured, spraying metal fragments at a driver in Alabama, Takata conducted secret tests on 50 airbags that were retrieved from scrap yards. The New York Times cited two former employees who were involved in the secret testing as the source of the report.

During the testing, which was done in 2004, the steel inflators in two of the airbags cracked, which can lead to a rupture. Although the engineers began designing possible fixes, they never alerted federal regulators to the danger. According to the New York Times, Takata executives went so far as to order lab technicians to delete testing data from their computers and destroy the parts they were testing. […]

NHTSA under review for Takata airbag recall. Agency putting more pressure on Takata to turn over records

More than 14 million cars have been recalled around the globe for faulty airbags from the Japanese supplier Takata Corp. The recall includes 11 million vehicles in the United States alone. The NHTSA is under fire from lawmakers for issuing a geographic recall of vehicles.

Critics of the geographic recall, including several U.S. senators, call it irresponsible. The NHTSA limits the recall to specific geographic regions of high humidity, but does not take into consideration the mobility of American drivers.

In June, the NHTSA inquired as to whether Takata air bag inflators made from 2000 to 2007 were properly sealed or subject to other defects. The agency asked certain automakers to recall millions of airbags in certain regions, including Florida and Puerto Rico, where the parts were exposed to higher humidity that could cause deterioration of the explosive material inside.

According to NBC News, […]