As the Takata airbag scandal continues to unfold, sources say the company at the center of the largest consumer product recall knew about the problem in 2008 and quietly made fixes.
The company is said to have changed the composition of the propellant in its airbags beginning in 2008 after a Honda recall, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg. A change in the propellant was necessary to prevent unexpected ruptures in high humidity climates that have been linked to six deaths and at least 100 injuries. Sources say the change came after Honda issued a recall for about 4,200 cars in 2008 to fix the issue.
On Tuesday, Takata announced its airbag recall would now involve nearly 34 million vehicles, up from the 18 million initially thought to be affected. And the recall was done at the arm-twisting of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The government agency also pushed Takata to extend the recall to all states, not just the original high humidity areas.
Automakers affected by this recall so far are BMW, Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota, with the majority of models made before 2008. The government has set up a website for consumers to see if there specific model is part of the recall.
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