Yesterday, airbag-maker Takata made a terrifying admission: the company has no idea exactly why its products have been spraying metal shards into motorists’ bodies when they deploy. The good news is that two more automakers have, with the encouragement of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, expanded their recall of vehicles containing Takata parts to those registered in more states.

The expanded airbag recall now includes model year 2004 and 2005 Ford Ranger and model year 2005 and 2006 Ford GT trucks, but still only recalls those sold in tropical areas with high humidity like Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Trucks sold in high-humidity regions of some other southern states are included, but this recall remains baffling to people with common sense: don’t people sometimes buy a truck, then move to a different state sometimes in the following decade? Aren’t vehicles sometimes sold to people living in different towns?

Chrysler, for its part, has expanded its own recall to include Dodge Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500 trucks, only in model year 2003. It also includes only trucks sold in those high-humidity areas.

The NHTSA is not thrilled with the current state of this recall, which has been limited to the tropical states where “most” of the explosions have occurred.

Ford expands U.S. recall of Takata air bags [Reuters]
Air bag recall pressure builds; Takata remains defiant [Detroit News]

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