When a car is recalled for its airbag, it receives a new inflator, which is a metal casing containing the explosives that help inflate the airbag. The explosives, which contain a volatile compound called ammonium nitrate, can break down over time or when exposed to moisture, and may pose a danger.
Takata have been aware of the defect since at least 2004, when an airbag ruptured in a 2002 Honda Accord in North America. At the time, the manufacturers deemed the rupture an anomaly and did not alert safety regulators. It took Takata and Honda four more years to issue the first recall by an automaker over the defect, in 2008, and only for 4,000 vehicles. But since then, the problem has snowballed.
A total of 14 automakers have recalled about 28 million inflators in 24 million vehicles. (In some cars, airbags on both the driver and passenger side have been recalled.)
But the problem is potentially more widespread. Takata has sold as many as 54 million inflators since 2000 that contain ammonium nitrate. That leaves tens of millions of cars with potentially problematic inflaters on the road that have not been fixed, or in some cases, have not even been recalled.
