VinFast has issued a recall for 284 VF8 SUVs from model years 2022 through 2024 because their airbags might not deploy in an accident. Vinfast still holds most of the affected cars, but the company believes 52 may sit in customer driveways.
The company tells the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Certain VF8 models may have left the production facility equipped with inert airbag inflators.” Without a functioning inflator, an airbag can’t do its job. “If a VinFast VF8 equipped with an inert airbag is involved in an accident where the inert airbag is designed to deploy, it will not,” the company explains.
Engineers sometimes use inert inflators in pre-production vehicles undergoing testing, but inert inflators are not engineered for use in production vehicles.
Related: What is VinFast? All About the New Vietnamese Automaker
The company has “issued a stop-ship and stop-sale globally for the affected VF8 vehicles.”
VinFast says it knows of no injuries or accidents related to the issue.
The company will replace all involved car airbags with modules equipped with active inflators.
Automakers recall many cars to fix safety defects, sometimes more than once. They try to notify every owner to ask them to bring the vehicle in for repair, but they rarely reach them all. Millions of vehicles on American roads need free recall repairs. To find out if your car is one of them, check the easy VIN tool at our recall center.
