Ford adds nearly 1M vehicles to Takata airbag recall

Jan. 5 (UPI) — For the fourth time, U.S. automaker Ford expanded its recall of vehicles over concerns about faulty Takata-made airbags.

The latest expansion, announced in a news release Friday, affects roughly 953,000 Ford vehicles whose passenger frontal airbag inflators have been declared defective. Ford called it a “planned expansion of previously recalled vehicles.”

Although Ford said there have not been any injuries associated with the latest recalled vehicles, the defective airbag inflators have previously exploded and spewed dangerous projectiles in other automobiles.

There have been more than 20 deaths connected to the defects across the U.S., Australia and Malaysia. With tens of millions of vehicles already recalled, the Takata airbag recall effort is the largest auto recall in history. Takata, a Japanese auto parts manufacturer, announced it filed for bankruptcy in June 2017.

About 782,000 of the vehicles identified in the latest Ford recall expansion are located in the U.S., Ford said, while the rest are in Canada.

The latest recalled vehicles include 2010 Ford Edge and 2010 Lincoln MKX vehicles built at Oakville Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada, between Nov. 28, 2008, and July 12, 2010; 2010-2011 Ford Ranger pickup trucks built at Twin Cities between Aug. 14, 2008, and June 21, 2014; 2010-2012 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ and 2010-2011 Mercury Milan vehicles built at Hermosillo Assembly Plant in Sonora, Mexico, between July 3, 2008, and July 29, 2012; and 2010-2014 Ford Mustang vehicles built at Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan between June 8, 2009, and Dec. 16, 2011.