Senate Dems applaud expanded airbag recall

A pair of Senate Democrats is applauding the Department of Transportation for calling for a nationwide recall of defective airbags that were manufactured by Japanese auto parts company Takata. 

DOT officials said Tuesday that a regional recall of Takata airbags that had been limited to areas of the country where weather conditions are humid should be expanded nationwide. 

Takata previously attributed problems with airbags, which it says were manufactured by a Michigan-based subsidiary company known as TK Holdings, to humid weather because of a July accident that occurred in Malaysia. 

{mosads}Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said after the DOT’s announcement that was it was better to be safe than sorry when it comes to faulty auto parts. 

“We are pleased that NHTSA … heeded our call to recognize the national scope of this problem, and abandoned its ill-advised, unacceptably-limited regional recalls,” the senators said in a statement. “By expanding recalls beyond the most humid areas, NHTSA … acknowledged that the danger presented by Takata airbags is not limited to any one part of the country. NHTSA should additionally expand this recall to include passenger airbags that could injure or kill those not behind the wheel.” 

The defective Takata airbags were used in cars manufactured by companies like Toyota, Lexus and Chrysler.

The recalls have drawn the attention of lawmakers like Markey and Blumenthal, who are on guard about the highway safety agency’s handling of defective auto parts following widespread recalls at General Motors earlier this year. 

Markey and Blumenthal said the highway safety agency should make broader changes to its handling of recalls in light of the Takata and General Motors issues. 

“NHTSA should now revisit its regional recall system that only protects certain drivers from dangerous defects,” the senators wrote. “Regional recalls make little sense as a matter of policy because cars — let alone the Americans who drive them — are not bound by state lines, and needlessly put lives at risk.”