Photo: Mazda
At the beginning of the current week, sources close to Mazda North America told media outlets that the manufacturer is considering to expand its recall of vehicles fitted with defective Takata airbag inflators.
It only took a few days, but the info is now official - the tally jumped from 86,770 to 330,000 vehicles. And yes, the 330,000-strong safety recall involves cars that were sold and registered in the US.
To boot, Mazda initially thought that the population of old vehicles with Takata airbags sits at around 65,000 units, not the 86,773 estimate suggested after the some safety watchdogs from the NHTSA completed investigations on this peculiar defect.
Regarding affected nameplates, Mazda North America says that Takata airbag inflators were fitted to the 2003 to 2007 Mazda6, 2004 B-Series truck, 2004 to 2005 MPV and the 2004 to 2008 Mazda RX-8.
Up to this moment, Takata Corp tested a large number of airbag inflators removed from affected Mazda cars, yet none have been found to be non-compliant at this time
Only a 2005 Mazda6 from Florida has been identified as having experienced an abnormal driver's-side airbag deployment. That abnormality made Mazda work together with the NHTSA on this situation.
Even though this operation is just a safety improvement campaign, not an out-and-out recall, we advise affected owners from Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Saipan, Guam, the American Samoa and US Virgin Islands to contact their nearest service departments. After all, replacing the defective Takata airbags is a free of charge job, so why wait any longer to do it?
Even though this operation is just a safety improvement campaign, not an out-and-out recall, we advise affected owners from Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Saipan, Guam, the American Samoa and US Virgin Islands to contact their nearest service departments. After all, replacing the defective Takata airbags is a free of charge job, so why wait any longer to do it?
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