Jesse Jones: More than 100k cars still on WA roads with recalled airbags

The troubling history of Takata airbags has been well-documented for more than a decade.

The federal government recalled Takata airbags starting in 2014 because they could explode when deployed, causing serious injury or even death.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 67 million airbags installed by 19 different automakers were impacted.

“More than 25 people in the U.S. have been killed and more than 400 have been injured,” says Patrick Olsen, CARFAX’s Editor-in-Chief.

He says there are still 6 million vehicles in the US that have not had their airbags fixed and Washington state ranks 18th in the country with 133,000 vehicles with unfixed Takata airbags.

The Seattle/Tacoma area has 76,000 impacted vehicles, ranking 15th among cities. Olsen says the vehicles we’re talking about were installed in model years 2001 through 2015.

One troubling thought says Olsen, “A lot of these cars are now in the hands of teen drivers, right? Families buy older cars for their teen to get to work or go to college. And the reality is they may not be looking or thinking about recalls.”

If you haven’t received a notice from the automaker, get a Carfax report to see if your car is impacted by the recall.

Then, take it to the dealership and get it fixed ASAP. The fix shouldn’t take more than 1-2 hours and should be completely free to you.

The time you spend is well worth the peace of mind.

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