Toyota and General Motors are telling the owners of about 61,000 older Corolla, Matrix, RAV4, and Pontiac Vibe models to stop driving them because their Takata airbag inflators are at risk of exploding and hurling shrapnel, per the AP.
- The urgent warning Monday covers certain Corolla compact cars and Matrix hatchbacks from the 2003 and 2004 model years, as well as the RAV4 small SUV from 2004 and 2005.
- Also covered are about 11,000 Pontiac Vibes from 2003 and 2004, which are essentially the same as the Matrix and were made at the same California factory. Most of the vehicles are in the United States.
- Dealers will provide options such as mobile repair, towing the car to a dealer, or vehicle pickup and delivery. Owners can go to nhtsa.gov/recalls and enter their 17-digit vehicle identification number to see if their cars are affected.
The recalled RAV4s have Takata driver's-side airbags, while the Corolla and Matrix models have them on the passenger side. Takata, now defunct, used volatile ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate airbags in a crash, but the chemical propellant can deteriorate over time. The airbag can explode with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister and spewing shrapnel. At least 26 people have been killed in the US by Takata inflators since May 2009, and at least 30 have died worldwide. The potential for a dangerous malfunction led to the largest series of auto recalls in US history.
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