With 54 Million to Go, This Airbag Recall Is Never Going To End

Takata may have sought bankruptcy protection, but it has plenty of work to do
Takata Corp.’s bankruptcy filing spells the end of a eight-decade-old auto-parts maker, but the company could limp on for years supplying parts for the approximately 54 million defective air bags that still need to be replaced in the U.S. alone. The unprecedented recall affects roughly 16% of the 260 million vehicles currently on American roads. The recall—the largest-ever automotive-safety campaign in the U.S.—affects cars from 19 manufacturers, from luxury makers like BMW AG and Tesla Inc. to Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co.
Betty Niver had two vehicles equipped with recalled Takata air bags. “My 2013 Acura RDX was the first to get a recall notice,” said Mrs. Niver, a 62-year-old retired librarian living in Tulsa, Okla. Faced with the prospect of having what some officials have called “ticking timebombs” sitting in her driveway while their local dealership awaited parts needed for repairs, the grandmother of three opted to trade it in for a new car. The dealership offered her substantial discounts on a 2016 Acura. “They bent over backward to get it resolved to make sure she was not driving a car around, with grandchildren in it, that was defective,” said her husband, Dennis Niver, 69.
Source: The Wall Street Journal