Lawmakers, safety experts push for expansion of Takata airbags recall.

Detroit Bureau (2/17, Eisenstein) reports that the number of vehicles recalled due to Takata airbags could triple as “lawmakers, regulators and safety experts are pressing” to have the remaining 50 million vehicles with the airbags also recalled. The article explains that “no one is yet sure exactly what is causing some airbags using Takata inflators to misfire when triggered by a crash.” However, the article adds that if ammonium nitrate is determined as the primary cause for the misfire, all Takata airbags are a risk. According to the article, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) wrote to NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind, “Recent events and recalls involving relatively new vehicles with these types of inflators raise serious questions as to whether Takata’s ammonium nitrate propellant is inherently dangerous.”

        Consumerist (2/17, Kieler, 66K) adds that NHTSA spokesperson Gordon Trowbridge “says the agency currently doesn’t have enough data to justify an all-encompassing recall of every Takata inflator, but didn’t put the idea out of the realm of possibility.”