For the second time in as many months, Chrysler and Dodge are urging owners of 2005-2010 Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, and Dodge Magnum cars to stop driving them until dealers can replace potentially deadly Takata airbag inflators.
The move comes after federal regulators on Friday confirmed another death due to a faulty Takata airbag inflator in a 2010 Chrysler 300.
It was the third Takata airbag fatality in a Chrysler or Dodge car this year. Parent company Stellantis says it reached out to owners 269 times “using standard and first-class mail, courier service, e-mail, text messages, phone calls, and home visits.”
History’s Largest Recall
An airbag inflator is a metal capsule filled with chemicals that react to rapidly inflate an airbag in an accident. The gas is supposed to squirt safely out of a small nozzle.
But some inflators built by the now-defunct company Takata can explode instead, sending hot metal shrapnel into the car’s cabin.
Those inflators are at the heart of a massive, worldwide recall campaign involving 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 models affected by the Takata recall.
Your Car Could Need a New Inflator
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 67 million cars on American roads carried the defective 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.
It’s Easy To Find Out if Your Car Needs a New Inflator
Check whether your car has any outstanding recalls with the easy VIN tool at our recall center.
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. But inevitably, they miss some.
It only takes minutes to ensure that your car is safe. Please check today.
In a statement, Stellantis notes that it will pay to tow owners’ cars for the free repair. The process, Stellantis says, “takes less than an hour on average.”
