Ten years after the biggest safety recall in U.S. history began, Honda says there are more than 60,000 vehicles on the nation’s roads equipped with what experts have called a “ticking time bomb”—defective air bags linked to 22 deaths worldwide and hundreds of shrapnel-related injuries, The Washington Post reports.
The air bags sit about a foot from a driver’s chest and have a 50-50 chance of exploding in a fender bender. What’s still out on the roads are the most deadly remaining in the massive recall of air bag inflators made by Takata. The recall involves more than 37 million vehicles built by 19 automakers.
Takata allegedly suppressed tests revealing the flaw in the air bags and three key executives are under federal indictment. The recall is well known to Congress and millions of Americans who have been touched by it. But tens of thousands of drivers most at risk remain oblivious to the efforts of automakers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Our last hearing on the ongoing Takata fiasco is just further evidence that NHTSA is just rudderless,” says Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. “The latest data the committee has received from the automakers shows that individual automaker recall completion rates are all over the place — and millions are still waiting for replacement air bags.”
