US opens probe into 30 million vehicles over Takata air bag inflators

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US auto safety investigators have opened a new probe into 30 million vehicles built by nearly two dozen automakers with potentially defective Takata air bag inflators, a government document seen by Reuters on Sunday (Sept 19) showed. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday opened an engineering analysis into an estimated 30 million US vehicles from the 2001 through 2019 model years. Automakers were alerted to the investigation, which is not yet public. The new investigation includes vehicles assembled by Honda Motor, Ford Motor, Toyota Motor, General Motors, Nissan Motor, Subaru, Tesla, Ferrari , Nissan Motor, Mazda, Daimler, BMW Chrysler (now part of Stellantis), Porsche Cars, Jaguar Land Rover (owned by Tata Motors) and others. The automakers on Sunday either declined to comment before NHTSA’s expected public announcement on Monday, or did not immediately respond to requests for comment. NHTSA declined to comment. The 30 million vehicles include both vehicles that had the inflators installed when they were manufactured as well as some inflators that were used in prior recall repairs, NHTSA said in the document. Over the last dec...