Government and automotive officials are advising almost 5 million car owners to have the air bags in their cars fixed, amid concern that a defect in the devices can possibly kill or injure the driver or passengers.
The inflator mechanisms in the air bags can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed in crashes. Safety advocates say at least four people, including a woman in Orlando, have died from the problem, and there have been multiple injuries.
Multiple automakers have recalled vehicles in the United States over the past two years to repair air bag inflators made by Takata Corp., a Tokyo-based supplier of seat belts, air bags, steering wheels and other auto parts. In a statement Monday, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration warned owners of those cars to act right away.
The agency has been investigating the problem since June and has cited reports of six inflators rupturing, causing three injuries.
Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, BMW and GM vehicles ranging from 2000 to 2011 are subjects of the recall. Worldwide, automakers have recalled about 12 million vehicles because of the problem.
Toyota on Monday issued a recall covering passenger air bags in 247,000 older model vehicles, including the Lexus SC, Corolla, Matrix, Sequoia and Tundra. Like many earlier recalls, Toyota's covers vehicles in South Florida, along the Gulf Coast, in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa — all areas that have high absolute humidity.
Toyota said it's working with Takata to pinpoint the cause of the rupture and to gauge the influence of high absolute humidity, which is a measurement of water vapor in the air.
"Condensation collects in this explosive charge and when this takes place and deploys, it’s heating up," said Larry Perry, president of Magic Mechanic, Inc. in Orlando. "It’s almost like you took a torch and to a piece of metal and just made it molten lava and so when it comes projecting out of this airbag, hopefully it doesn’t hit you if it was to happen."