Last Friday, National Highway Traffic Safety Association Deputy Chief David Friedman called out Chrysler for its decision to limit an earlier recall for defective passenger-side airbag deflators.
The Pentastar had expanded a previous recall involving 371,000 vehicles, including Ram pickups, 2005-2008 Chrysler 300s, 2005-2008 Dodge Dakotas, 2004-2008 Dodge Durangos, and 2007-2008 Chrysler Aspens. On Wednesday, December 3, it expanded the recall to another 149,150 2003 Dodge Rams that were sold in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, along with American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan and the Virgin Islands.
Still, Autonews reports that the latest expansion covers only one of two types of faulty passenger airbags supplied by Takata and excluded all other vehicles in the original recall.
“Chrysler still refuses to expand the regional recall to all affected cars and trucks, which is putting Americans at risk and defies common sense”, said Friedman. “We will determine the next steps and take appropriate action to ensure that Chrysler shares our sense of urgency in the interest of public safety.”
Other automakers, such as Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Honda, Subaru and Mazda, whose vehicles were also had the defective Takata airbags, expanded their recalls to cover broader regions.
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