More than 4.7 million owners of vehicles are being urged to take their cars to their dealers and have the vehicle's airbags checked out. On Monday the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said the airbags made by Takata could be defective and to take action immediately.
The warning was most pressing for vehicle owners in Florida, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and Hawaii. High humidity could be a factor, the agency said. But the agency also said anybody who received a recall notice for defective airbags made by Takata should see a dealer.
The airbags could fail to deploy properly, the agency said.
The NHTSA has been investigating since June. So far six incidents have been reported and at least one death has been attributed to the airbag explosions.
In a statement on its website, Japanese company Takata said In a statement on its website, Takata said it is cooperating with the NHTSA and is committed to ensuring the safety and functionality of its airbag inflators and strives to avoid any malfunction.
The vehicles in question were made between 2000 and 2006 by Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, and General Motors.
On the website safecar.gov, consumers can search by their vehicle identification number (VIN) to confirm whether their individual vehicle has an open recall or one related to the airbag problem that needs to be addressed.
Here is a list of vehicle affected by the recall issued Monday:
