Volkswagen has issued a recall alert for about 38,000 2015-2016 Beetle coupes and convertibles that may contain dangerous Takata airbag inflators.
In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), VW says the company’s internal testing “indicated better performance than the results of other studies” of Takata inflators “and did not identify any defects.”
But the company has recalled the cars “out of an abundance of caution.”
History’s Largest Recall
The Takata airbag recall is the largest vehicle recall in U.S. history. It has been under way since 2014 and involves tens of millions of cars sold under at least 34 brand names on at least five continents. Nearly every automaker that sells cars in the U.S. has cars affected by the Takata recall.
Exploding Takata airbag inflators have killed at least 23 Americans — four just last year. Chrysler and Dodge recently went as far as to ask owners not to drive their vehicles until the inflators were replaced.
Exploding Inflators
An airbag inflator is a small metal capsule containing chemicals that combine to create a rapidly-expanding gas. In an accident, the inflator is supposed to squirt that gas out of a nozzle, quickly inflating a folded airbag so that it can cushion occupants from hitting collapsing car parts.
Some Takata inflators, however, can explode instead. Their capsule sometimes bursts under the sudden pressure of the chemical reaction. That can send hot metal fragments flying into the cabin like shrapnel.
Your Car Could Hide One
NHTSA estimates that 67 million cars on American roads originally carried the defective airbag inflators. The agency believes that about 50 million of them have been repaired or removed from use.
That means there are still as many as 17 million cars on American roads that have a potentially deadly defect their owners can have repaired for free.
Dealers Will Replace Them for Free in Less Than an Hour
Volkswagen dealers will replace the inflators at no cost. The repair typically takes less than an hour to perform.
It’s far too easy to miss or ignore recall notices. Automakers try to reach out to notify owners that they need to bring their cars in for repair. However, they don’t always reach them all.
Check whether your car has any outstanding recalls with the easy VIN tool at our recall center.
