Mazda announces new limited airbag recall.

In continuing coverage of the Takata airbag recall, the Detroit (MI) News (12/4, 504K) reports that Mazda announced on Thursday that it would be recalling 40,000 more vehicles in the US, though the recall is limited to high-humidity states. The News reports that the models the automaker is recalling “include the 2003-2007 Mazda6, 2004-2008 RX-8, 2006-2007 Mazdaspeed6, 2004-2005 MPV, and 2004 B-Series Trucks” in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The News notes that, despite NHTSA urging companies to expand their recalls nationwide, only Honda has told the safety agency that it will do so.

        Bloomberg News (12/5, Clothier, Welch, 1.94M) reports that Bob Carter, senior vice president of Toyota’s US operations, said on Wednesday that the automakers affected by the Takata airbag recall are planning on “hiring our own independent testing firm” to investigate the defective airbags.

        A second Bloomberg News (12/3, Green, Fisk, Plungis, 1.94M) article reports that US Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), a co-author of the TREAD Act, reminded automakers of their responsibility under the act to “provide as much helpful information as they can so we can help save lives,” noting, “reporting the bare minimum doesn’t cut it.” The article also says that David Friedman, NHTSA’s acting chief, told reporters in a phone interview “that the industry must stop ‘fighting with us’ and ‘put safety first.’”

        Group warns car buyers of the most recalled vehicles. The Arizona Republic (12/4, Merrill, 1.21M) reports on a list made by iSeeCars.com that found the 15 most recalled cars in the US, as well as the average amount of time an owner could expect to spend getting their vehicle repaired. The group found that the top three cars were the Chevrolet Cruze with 4.8 recalls taking an average of 14.4 hours to repair, the Toyota RAV4 with 4.7 recalls taking an average of 14 hours to repair, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee with 4.4 recalls taking an average of 13.2 hours to repair. The Republic notes that the Ford Focus and Honda Civic fared the best with both averaging fewer than 1 recall that took only 2.6 hours to repair on average