Mazda Adds 540,000 Vehicles To Takata Airbag Recall List

The roster of vehicles recalled for Takata-produced airbags found to spew pieces of shrapnel with enough force to injure or kill occupants continues to grow. This time, the list increased by nearly 540,000 Mazda automobiles.

The Associated Press reports that Mazda will recall 503,000 cars with defective driver’s side airbags and 35,000 small trucks with defective passenger side airbags in the U.S. and Canada.

Vehicles affected by the recent recall include: model years 2003 to 2008 Mazda 6; model years 2006 to 2007 MazdaSpped 6; model years 2004 to 2008 RX-8 and model years 2004 to 2006 B-Series pickup trucks.

The company says that some of the vehicles were part of a previous recall last year.

Automakers – including Ford, BMW, Chrysler Fiat and Honda – have been scrambling over the last week to identify which of their models should be included in the recall of nearly 34 million vehicles equipped with Takata airbags.

The expanded recalls come just a week after Takata declared that nearly 33.8 million vehicles sold in the United State should be recalled for the defect.

While about 17 million of those vehicles had already been part of recalls by major automakers, millions of others had yet to be identified, leaving consumers wondering if they’re driving around with what some people have likened to an explosive device in their steering wheel.

Consumers looking to see if their vehicles are part of the largest auto recall in history can check by entering their 17 digit VIN on the SaferCar.gov website, which produces a list of all recalls associated with a particular vehicle.

Mazda adds cars, pickups to massive Takata air bag recall in US and Canada [The Associated Press]

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