Luxury car brand BMW is recalling over 1.3 million vehicles in China equipped with Takata airbags inflators almost a month after recalling nearly 400,000 vehicles in America for the same reason.
According to the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the recall involved almost 600,000 cars locally manufactured in China, while 750,000 imported cars, which were manufactured between 2003 and 2018.
Reportedly, these cars may contain flawed airbag inflators if the owners have changed their steering wheels, as the new wheels may contain Takata inflators that could throw sharp objects in the air at the time of deploying airbags and possibly injure passengers.
The problem majorly arises if the owners decide to modify the interior of their vehicle and prefer a fancy steering wheel that could contain these airbag inflators.
The SAMR also advised BMW owners to visit an authorized dealer to get their steering wheels checked for a potential issue or upload their pictures alongside other necessary information to the relevant platform for online inspection.
BMW also announced the replacement of the flawed airbag modules free of cost for the impacted vehicles.
Despite such incentives, many people still prefer to ignore recall advisories, as the NHTSA claims that “millions” of car owners continue to drive their cars without getting them fixed after recall requests.
While Takata is a famous Japanese automotive parts company, it has been involved in various controversies over the years.
Since 2009, more than 35 people in the US, Australia, and Malaysia reportedly lost their lives after suffering from various problems relating to Takata airbag inflators. In the US alone, 27 people have died due to these airbags inflators while 400 people have been injured.
Despite persistent complaints over the years, Takata has hardly managed to increase its quality protocols.
Takata corporations came under severe scrutiny in 2013 when it was found that its airbags may have been involved in multiple injuries and deaths in Mexico. This controversy led to the recall of nearly 3.6 million vehicles of different brands worldwide.
Four years later, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the biggest recall in US history when 42 million vehicles of 19 different brands, potentially containing flawed Takata airbag inflators, were recalled.
These flawed airbag inflators reportedly trouble more in older models of vehicles and become even more deadly when the vehicles are exposed to extreme heat and humid conditions.
Continuous quality dips threw Takata into the financial doldrums as the company filed bankruptcy in 2018 and was eventually acquired by Key Safety Systems for $1.6 billion.
