What You Need to Know About the Terrifying Takata Airbag Recall

The 2004 Honda CR-V, shown here after a crash test performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, is among the cars involved in the Takata airbag recall. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

So what’s going on?

7.8 million cars in the US are being recalled because they’re equipped with airbags that could explode with too much force when they inflate. That extra force can be enough to rupture the airbag’s container, sending plastic and metal fragments into passengers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s list of affected vehicles includes more than 50 models from Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors, made between 2000 and 2011.

Unlike the GM recall of cars with defective ignition switches that could turn off the engine and deactivate the airbags, this problem turns a life-saving tool into one that fires shrapnel. The problem has been linked to at least four deaths, according to Bloomberg, and seems to be more common in hot, humid regions.

What’s happening now?

NHTSA is telling drivers of affected vehicles to “take immediate action,” meaning get themselves to a car dealership and get their airbags checked out. It’s especially concerned about drivers in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and Hawaii (all hot, humid spots).

It’s not an easy problem to fix on a massive scale—there aren’t 7.8 million airbags lying around to replace the potentially dangerous ones. Some consumers may have to wait months to get replacements, and Toyota has suggested disabling the passenger side airbag and keeping that seat empty as a temporary solution, The New York Times reports.

If your car is on the recall list, or it’s not and you’re freaked out anyway (understandable, airbags are acting like shotguns), you can call NHTSA’s safety hotline (1-888-327-4236) or use your car’s VIN to see if you’re affected by this or any other reported problem.

Takata, meanwhile, “deeply regret[s] that the recent recalls of vehicles equipped with our airbags have likely raised significant concerns and troubles to our product users, our customers and other stakeholders,” it said in a statement on Monday. “We sincerely apologize for causing any such concerns and troubles.”

And what next?

A couple of things. One, we try to figure out what went so crazily wrong. Takata says it’s working with automakers to find the underlying issue. It looks like the problem with humidity may come from its use of ammonium nitrate as the chemical that ignites in the event of a crash, instantly inflating the airbag. The compound is very sensitive to moisture, according to Reuters. Once in the car, it’s sealed from the outside environment, and NHTSA is investigating if humidity could somehow be getting in. Problems could be traced back to production: In 2006, the exposure of the chemical to moisture caused a series of explosions at Takata’s plant in Monclava, Mexico.

Then, we have to address the fact that this recall has not been especially well-executed—and that problems began at least a decade ago. Honda, which made 5 million of the vehicles now being recalled, first noticed the defect in 2004, then spotted it three more times in 2007. After each of the four incidents, it sent the required forms to NHTSA. But, a Times investigation found, it didn’t go “beyond the standard form and separately alert safety regulators to the most critical detail: that the air bags posed an explosion risk. Nor did federal regulators inquire about the incidents when the forms were filed by Honda.”

The GM recall earlier this year pointed to similar weaknesses in the process by which automakers and NHTSA find and fix widespread problems, and lawmakers are making noise about it. In March, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced a bill to require automakers to give NHTSA more information about incidents involving fatalities.

Since the airbag issue has become the big news, Blumenthal has been back on TV, criticizing NHTSA’s response (“there are also times when the relationship has to be confrontational, not collegial”) and arguing confidential legal settlements between automakers and injured drivers should be banned. “If the public were aware of the lawsuits that are brought, if they were settled in open view, available to the public, there would be much quicker and more vigorous action to end the defects that lead to these horrendous crashes and exploding airbags,” he said on ABC.

With a House committee set to meet with safety regulators this week, there’s every reason to expect you’ll be hearing about this recall for a while.