Jaguar Land Rover enters the fray over Takata airbag recall
The automaker is recalling more than 50,000 vehicles in the US for airbag inflators that may turn into clouds of shrapnel.
Jaguar Land Rover will mail out recall notifications to the owners of all affected vehicles, with additional instructions on how and when to get the vehicle fixed.
It seems like damn near every car on the road has been recalled, or will be, thanks to Takata's faulty airbag inflators. The recall campaign has already covered millions of vehicles, but more are being added to the list every month. This time around, it's Jaguar Land Rover's turn to add some cars to the pile.
JLR has issued a recall for 54,000 cars in the US, covering the 2007-2011 Land Rover Range Rover SUV and the 2009-2011 Jaguar XF sedan. This is actually the first of four waves of recalls that will eventually cover more than 100,000 vehicles. The waves are broken down by location, with the vehicles most likely to feature dangerous parts being recalled first. The waves are also necessary because JLR lacks the parts required to fix all the affected vehicles at the same time.
The issue lies with Takata's front passenger-side airbag inflators. These small explosive devices are supposed to inflate the airbag, but after being exposed to high humidity for long periods of time, the parts can go bad. When that happens, instead of inflating the airbag, the inflator may explode in a cloud of shrapnel. Fatalities and injuries have already been linked to this issue, and recalls have been underway for months now.
Thankfully, none of JLR's current offerings include the faulty airbags. That said, a number of automakers are still selling vehicles with Takata airbag inflators. The parts have been deemed dangerous only after being exposed to humidity for a long time, so these new cars with Takata inflators will eventually be recalled, but they are still legal to sell.
(Hat tip to Motor1!)
