The List You Don’t Want To Be On

Car recalls suck. You've probably already heard about the airbag-related recall that's been in the news lately. It involved 4.7 million vehicles. Guess what? Another 3.1 million vehicles were added to the list Wednesday.The reason for this particular recall isn't related to any one car manufacturer. It's due to a Japanese company called Takata that makes airbags for lots of different car companies. The issue is what's called the 'inflator'. It's the doo-hickey that explodes to inflate the airbag. It's supposed to neatly crack open and inflate the bag. Under some conditions though, the inflator itself explodes into a zillion pieces and comes flying out with the airbag.

Anyone who has ever had the unfortunate experience of being in an accident that required the airbags to deploy will tell you it's not fun. By necessity these things inflate in milliseconds. Anything moving that fast hurts, even if it is just a bag of air. The defect in the recalled vehicles add a zillion tiny pieces of inflator shrapnel to the airbag deployment causing what's been described as 'multiple tiny stab wounds' to the vehicle occupants.

That's just one of the reasons that these recalls suck. After years of happy motoring you may discover that you've been sitting just inches from one of these defective little 'stab-bags'. Plus there's the inconvenience of having to go to the dealership and get the work done. Usually the dealership is less than thrilled about the recall as well. They are obligated to do the work, and the replacement parts don't cost them anything, but the time and labor is something that is usually a losing proposition for them compared to their regular work.

Here's the link to see if your ride is on the list. Check the upper right corner of the screen for a handy widget that lets you use your VIN to see if you'll soon be in a dealership waiting room drinking bad coffee and watching some weird cable channel.