January 18, 2016
If you drive your own vehicle, you know how important it is to maintain it and make sure you are safe when you drive. One of the safety steps is to be aware of any recalls that may affect your vehicle and take the necessary steps as soon as possible to fix the recall issue. In fact, the closing of 2015 saw the recall of more than 622,000 vehicles from several different automakers, including Buick, Mazda,and GM. If you drive a Mazda, you may be affected by their most recent round of recalls. It was announced on January 10, 2016, that Mazda had issued a vehicle recall of over 300,000 of their vehicles. The cars affected by this recall include the Mazda 6 with manufacture dates between May 29, 2002, and May 5, 2008, the Mazda Speed 6 manufactured between July 1, 2005, and June 29, 2007, and finally, the 2004 Mazda RX-8 manufactured between June 25, 2003, and June 30, 2003. It is important for Mazda owners to find out if their vehicles are one of the recalled ones or not, especially since this recall has expanded since its original release in December of 2015. It was found that the aforementioned Mazda vehicles were equipped with front passenger airbag inflators made by Takata Corporation. These particular inflators have the potential to burst open in the unfortunate event of a car accident. If they do rupture, there is a chance that metal shrapnel could be sprayed throughout the vehicle, further injuring, or even killing anyone of its occupants. This vehicle recall is among the largest in the United State's automotive history, with 23 million air bag inflators located in 19 million cars and 12 different car makers being recalled. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Mazda, there had been no direct deaths or injuries as of the date the recall was announced. However, globally, the rupturing Takata inflators have been linked to nine deaths and over 100 injuries. It is believed that long exposures to high humidity contributes to the malfunction of the inflator by causing the ammonium nitrate propellant to ignite too fast during an accident. If you own a Mazda vehicle on the recall list, make an appointment with your dealership to have your passengers side airbag replaced for free with a new one. It is, however, important to check with your dealership, as of the date of the recall Mazda was unsure when the replacement phase for the recalled airbags would begin. This recall was previously limited to regions of high humidity, however, it has now expanded to be nationwide. Mazda had already taken action on this issue by having a national safety campaign to fix the airbags in the affected vehicles. The expanded recall adds 310,592 additional vehicles, bringing the total of recalled vehicles to 374,519. The Mazda recall number for this issue is 9015L. If car owners have more questions or concerns they can contact Mazda customer service directly or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.