The Takata airbag recall list just grew longer for Toyota, Scion, and Lexus models. Is yours on the new hit list?
More Toyota, Scion, and Lexus models were added to the ongoing Takata airbag fiasco this week. The new list includes economy cars, Minivans, SUVs, and luxury cars. Toyota and Lexus released this statement:
"The involved vehicles are equipped with a particular type of Takata inflator. According to Takata, a safety defect may arise in the front passenger air bag inflators in the involved vehicles due to inflator propellant degradation occurring after prolonged exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling. This may result in an inflator rupture when the air bag deploys."
Toyota and Lexus dealers will install new airbags. Snail mail notices (required by law) will go out in March, but you can check your Toyota, Scion, or Lexus online at the company recall lookup sites to see if it is included.
The new list adds the following models and years:
2009 – 2010 and 2013 Model Year Scion xB
2009 - 2010 and 2013 Model Year Toyota Corolla
2009 – 2010 and 2013 Model Year Toyota Corolla Matrix
2009 – 2010 Model Year Toyota Yaris
2010 and 2013 Model Year Toyota 4Runner
2013 Model Year Toyota Sienna
2009 – 2010 and 2013 Model Year Lexus IS250/350
2010 and 2013 Model Year Lexus IS250C/350C
2009 – 2010 and 2013 Model Year Lexus IS-F
2009 – 2010 Model Year Lexus ES350
2010 and 2013 Model Year Lexus GX460
This new expansion, which is based on the latest information from Takata, involves approximately 600K additional vehicles in the U.S. In total, nearly 40 million vehicles have been recalled.
Killer air bags by definition
Killer air bags by definition are bad news. Yet I'm still waiting for a semblance of a rational solution.
Rational action: Disconnect the killer airbags and either leave them disconnected or reconnect when safe bags installed. Since it's the customer's vehicle the
customer should be the entity to decide.