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NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation PE14016

Preliminary Evaluation · Air Bag Inflator Rupture · Opened 2014-06-11 · Closed 2015-03-02

Investigation

Action number
PE14016
Type
Preliminary Evaluation
Open date
2014-06-11
Close date
2015-03-02
Manufacturer
BMW of North America, LLC
Affected makes
ACURA; BMW; CHRYSLER; DODGE; FORD; HONDA; INFINITI; LEXUS; MAZDA; MITSUBISHI; NISSAN; PONTIAC; SAAB; SUBARU; TAKATA; TOYOTA
Affected components
AIR BAGS; AIR BAGS:FRONTAL
Affected model years
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 9999
Affected (make, year) variants
3294

Summary

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.During the course of PE14-016, ODI determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by Takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.Nonetheless, at ODI's insistence, all 10 vehicle manufacturers initiated a regional recall within approximately two weeks of the opening of the investigation.The regions recalled initially included Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, areas with consistently high absolute humidity and climatic conditions believed to be a significant factor in the inflator ruptures.As part of the recall actions, inflators removed from remedied vehicles are to be returned to Takata for testing.Takata's initial test results on passenger inflators from remedied vehicles indicated a much higher than anticipated rupture frequency for inflators returned from Florida.Accordingly, ODI requested all 10 manufacturers expand the regional recalls for passenger inflators to include other geographic areas where high absolute humidity conditions exist, including the Gulf States and other coastal areas.Takata's testing of the passenger inflators to date continues to indicate this geographic area as having the highest risk, with no ruptures occurring from inflators returned from outside the expanded recall regions.During PE14-016, four additional passenger inflator field events occurred, all in vehicles from the same expanded geographic region.Also during PE14-016, four additional driver inflator field events occurr

Source

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NHTSA ODI investigation page
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