SACRAMENTO, Calif. — About 105,000 vehicles in the Sacramento and Stockton area are still using recalled airbags, according to Patrick Olsen with CARFAX.
Olsen says the Takata airbag recall was launched by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2014.
He says the recall impacted 19 automakers and more than 40 million vehicles, for cars dating back to 2001 to 2015. It was due to an issue with the chemicals in the airbag inflator.
"Normally when your car gets hit, these chemicals combine, it creates the explosion that fills the airbag that protects the driver, protects passengers. In these airbags though there was a problem," said Olsen. "When they're exposed over time to more heat and humidity, and certainly — in the Sacramento and Stockton area you guys get a lot of heat — moisture can get into these chemicals and create an explosion that is many times greater than what was intended. What happens then is the metal band around the airbag is turned into shrapnel."
He says when the recall first started there were limited resources for replacement airbags, leading the NHTSA to identify nine states as the most dangerous, including California.
He says more than 25 people have been killed because of this, and more than 400 injured nationwide.
Olsen says you can set up an appointment at a dealership and they can usually swap it out relatively quickly. Some cars have a do-not-drive recall for this issue where you park it, they'll send a tow truck, and you can get it fixed for free at a dealership.
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