Another death has been reported
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0X32EE
This list is quite long, and all Volkswagens were just added.
http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/all-takata-airbag-recall-vehicles-one-handy-list
If they keep adding vehicles to the list, how do we know the list is complete? Our two cars are not on the list yet. How do you find out if your airbag is a Takata? I’d assume all Takatas are fautlty until proven otherwise. Why is it taking so long for the government to get to the bottom of the issue? They started 18 months ago and the list isn’t complete? The new victim’s family should sue the gov.
^^^ The latest victim was driving a car already on the list.
From the news article: “Honda said the owner had been mailed multiple recall notices about the five-year-old recall effort, but repairs were never made.”
Dh’s finally got replaced a couple of months ago. My Toyota apparently used something different. It’s not on the list.
None of our cars are on the list. This is really scary. If you think about all of the used cars especially on the road whose owners are probably not getting those notices.
Why would owners of used cars not get notices? We get notices on cars we bought used.
@MomofJandL I didnt say used car owners never get notices, but I am sure a lot fall thru the cracks. Heck even folks who have purchased cars new, arent notified due to address changes, and mail being lost.
S got a notice for his Honda Element several months ago. He went to the dealership and they put him on a waiting list! Apparently they’re replacing certain years/models first and making others wait for parts. I worry that he’ll have a problem before he reaches the top of the list. Who’s responsible then – Takata or the dealership?
@patsmom, that is really scary. Ive read that there is a backlog for parts. Ive tried to encourage everyone I know to check the list.
So, this might be a dumb question (my knowledge of all things Cars is very limited) but if you have a car that is one the list and you are on the waitlist to due to a backlog, is there an interim fix? Can a airbag be disabled and, if so, is that a safer option?
From the link in the OP:
One possible interpretation is that the car owners ignored the mailings. 
We got a recall notice for our 2011 Honda Fit. We called to bring it in, and we’re told the parts were not available until this summer. But, we could bring our Fit in and get a free rental car until they could fix ours. So now we’re driving a 2015 Civic and our Fit is sitting somewhere in storage.
We called the dealership the day after we got the notice, and they couldn’t get us in for a month. Said they were only doing two airbag replacements per day. I’m glad we didn’t wait a week to call!
There are millions of Takatas out there. It would take a very long time to get them all replaced, even if the industry were motivated to do it, which of course they’re not.
It took several weeks at least for the parts to come in for my Pontiac Vibe. The work itself took half a day.
I have heard that Takata doesn’t really understand the problem that’s causing the explosions with their airbags, so the “fix” that is being done in the replacement airbags isn’t necessarily the right fix. I hope someone tells me I’m wrong.
@BunsenBurner I wonder who is at fault when they can prove that the owner was sent multiple notices?
I still think the companies should be held responsible regardless. Perhaps there can be more leniency if the customer ignored mailings, but there should be some accountability for allowing these defective airbags to be installed in the first place.
I worry about my loved ones getting into someone else’s car with these airbags.
I don’t think the car companies can be sued, given that they had no way to know they were defective. If they covered it up, that would be a different story or if they designed it, they could be held liable. Takata does know what the problem was, the airbag inflator had too strong a charge and ended up creating shrapnel, as if a bomb went off. They are replacing the igniters with a different model that has a charge that is smaller.
The dealers have been pretty aggressive with notifying, Honda kept calling and sending reminders until I got it done. If you get the notice, by all means call the dealer, at the least to get in the queue to get the parts. The problem is replacements are in short supply, which means people are risking themselves.
It is possible to disable the airbags, but legally you aren’t supposed to do that and while it would seem to make sense, I don’t think dealers or mechanics would do that for liability reasons.
I finally got my Honda done after receiving many notices and phone messages from them and ignoring them for a long time. When I finally responded I was able to get an appointment very quickly and the repair only took about an hour. Like musicprnt I don’t think Honda should be held responsible, but Takata should be liable for producing a defective product.
It depends. I find it hard to believe that Toyota had no idea about the problems with the airbags. How much, and when are the questions.