Automobile manufacturers will make a new recall history in the US, repairing defective airbags across 34 million cars after regulators pulled up Japanese supplier Takata on safety issues.
With the historic recall expected to span over years to reach completion, automakers have queued up to get parts for replacement.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) administrator Mark Rosekind has estimated that the entire process could consume some years.
After drawing flak from regulators, lawmakers and customers, Takata has raised the output of its replacement parts. Meanwhile, some carmakers have begun scouting for other suppliers to fit their urgent requirement.
Under the supervision of NHTSA, Takata and its consumers will take a final call on who receives the replacement parts.
The recalls are borne of safety concerns arising out of ruptures in some airbag inflators made by Takata. The company has confirmed that over-aggressive deployment of some inflators were triggered by persistent conditions of high absolute humidity over years, coupled with manufacturing glitches.
The faulty air bags have been spotted so far in SUVs manufactured by Honda Motor and in the vehicles made by Toyota Motor, General Motors and Daimler AG. It has been estimated that such vehicles constitute 14% of 250 million vehicles that ply on U.S. roads.
