Takata Airbag Recall List

Airbags have existed, in one form or another, since the 1970s. However, they only started to see consistent use in passenger vehicles in the late 1980s.

Those early airbags were somewhat controversial with consumers, in part because the technology hadn’t been refined. There were regular stories in the media about airbags deploying when they shouldn’t and injuring passengers more than they would be if an airbag weren’t present.

Thankfully, airbag technology has improved significantly since those days. Even so, many of the cars equipped with the fledgling technology are still in use. Even worse, some airbag defects weren’t discovered until recently.

When a defect is discovered, responsible companies recall the affected devices. The U.S. government assists with that recall by maintaining a list of recalled technology and making it readily available to consumers.

Takata airbags have been the subject of a broad, ongoing recall for years, and recently, the company has issued a new recall for an additional problem.

If you discover that your vehicle is included on the Takata airbag recall list, you might wonder what you should do about it. The answer is simple. Contact an experienced product defect attorney at Morgan & Morgan right away to schedule a free case evaluation.

Where to Find the Takata Airbag Recall List

You can find the Takata airbag recall list on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website. This comprehensive website explains why the airbags were recalled and lists all affected vehicle models

You can read through the list to try to determine whether your vehicle was affected or provide the website with your vehicle identification number (VIN). If you do the latter, it will look up whether your vehicle is affected by any recalls and advise you accordingly.

Vehicles affected by this recall were manufactured in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Takata airbags were installed in several makes and models of cars manufactured by multiple companies.

Why the Takata Airbag Recall List Exists

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Takata was building airbags with non-azide driver inflators (NADI). Unfortunately, they had a faulty seal that allowed moisture to get into the propellant for the airbag.

When that type of propellant mixes with moisture, it fails to work the way it should. It can cause the airbag to expand slower than is necessary to protect an accident victim, or it can explode during inflation. Both results put passengers in more danger than they’d be in if the airbag weren’t present.

This problem wasn’t discovered for almost 20 years, which means that this particular recall wasn’t announced until 2019 and 2020. Despite an effort to contact vehicle owners, many people still aren’t aware that their car is affected by this recall. The Takata airbag recall list is one way that car owners can learn about this.

What to Do if Your Vehicle Is on the Takata Airbag Recall List

The first thing you will want to do if your car is on the list is contact a Morgan and Morgan product defect attorney. While you may be eligible for nothing more than having your airbags replaced with safe ones, your case could be more involved. One of our attorneys can determine your options so that you don’t leave money on the table.

If we determine that you are eligible for additional compensation beyond free replacement of the defective part, we’ll help you pursue that option. Depending on the circumstances of your case, you could potentially be eligible for thousands or even millions of dollars.

Typically, you can get increased compensation if you or a family member was injured by a defective Takata airbag and were not aware of the recall at the time of that injury. You may not have been aware of the recall because:

• The product hadn’t yet been recalled
• It was too soon after the recall had been announced to know about it
• You were incorrectly notified that your vehicle wasn’t affected by the recall
• Liable companies didn’t take appropriate measures to advise you of the recall

If you had a legitimate reason for not knowing that the product was defective when your accident occurred, the manufacturer can’t use the recall as a shield against liability. You can receive compensation for injuries caused by the defective product, and you should pursue that quickly. Depending on where you live, time may be running out to act.

Manufacturers May Be Responsible for Your Medical Bills

When it takes approximately 20 years to discover that a product is defective, there is a good chance that it will harm someone during that time. If you or a family member suffered harm because of that defect, you might not have even been aware at the time. Depending on the circumstances, we might be able to get you additional compensation.

You could even get compensation if you were harmed after the airbag recall was announced. While many of the cars that had these defective products are still in use, few are still owned by the original owners. 

Cars often go through multiple hands, and in the cases of these airbags, the owner of a car during an accident is unlikely to be the person who originally purchased it.

Ownership matters because when manufacturers announce recalls, they try to contact the owners of the affected vehicles. However, that often means they contact the original owner. Following the chain of owners for a used vehicle is time-consuming, and few manufacturers attempt it.

Thus, if you are the owner of a used car that was affected by the recall, you might have never been made aware that your car had a defective part. You could have been injured by this defective part well after the product recall and still have a legitimate claim for damages.

A Previous Owner Might Be Responsible

Since this airbag recall was announced in 2019 and 2020, a previous owner may be responsible for your injuries if they knew about the recall and sold you the car without advising you that it had a defective part.

If you purchased your used car anytime after the recall was issued and no one informed you that it had a defective part, you should speak to a Morgan & Morgan lawyer. They can help determine whether the part was replaced and may even be able to learn whether the previous owner was advised of the defect.

Injuries That Can Result From a Defective Airbag

The good news about defective Takata airbags is that there is no evidence that the defect is responsible for causing accidents. The airbag may not protect you as well as it should if you get into an accident. It may even harm you in an accident. But it likely won’t cause you to get into an accident that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

If you get into a serious accident while driving a car with a defective Takata airbag, you are likely to get injured worse than if it had worked properly. If the airbag deploys too slowly, you could:

• Be thrown from the car
• Suffer injuries from broken glass
• Get severely injured by your seat belt
• Slam your head into the steering wheel or door frame

Airbags are designed to prevent these types of injuries—when they properly deploy.

Furthermore, the defect in the Takata airbags can cause them to explode when they deploy. During this explosion, metal shrapnel can injure or kill the person that the airbag was supposed to protect.