From Ford to Toyota, Tesla and more, US opens probe into 30 million vehicles

Around 30 million cars are under investigation in the United States over potential defects to the airbags installed in these vehicles. The Takata airbags have been making news for all the wrong reasons in recent times and have been installed in cars belonging to almost every major car maker - from Ford, Toyota, Nissan and Honda to Daimler, BMW Chrysler, Porsche and even Ferrari NV.

The probe into nearly 30 million vehicles has been launched by US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). As per a report in Reuters, the engineering analysis seeks to check for potential fault with the Takata airbags inside vehicles of over two dozen brands. The use of a special drying agent inside the airbags has emerged as a cause of concern.

At the time of filing of this report, none of the car manufacturers had issued any statement about this.

Nearly 67 million air bag inflators from Takata have been recalled in the US alone in the past ten years. The number crosses 100 million if the figures are taken from the world over. This makes it the largest ever safety-related callback in the world of automobiles.

The issue with certain Takata airbag inflators is that at the time of emergency deployment, these can potentially send metal fragments towards the occupants. According to reports, 28 deaths have occurred due to this and another 400 injuries reported.

NHTSA had previously clarified that automakers need not recall vehicles which have Takata airbags with the potentially unsafe drying agent but had clarified that it will continue to monitor the situation. This is also because it is claimed that long-term exposure to heat and humidity make Takata airbag potentially unsafe.