Confirming recent reports, Ford has announced a recall expansion for Ranger pickups built with Takata airbag inflators.
The expanded campaign includes more than 391,000 vehicles globally, including nearly 362,000 sold in the US market. The program focuses on the driver-side airbag inflator for the 2004-2006 model years.
The same vehicles were already recalled last May to replace the passenger-side airbag inflators, also made by Takata. In both cases, the components are prone to rupture with too much force and send shrapnel through the cabin.
Notably, Ford also launched a campaign last year to replace driver-side inflators in 2004-2005 Rangers. The scope was limited to Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands, reflecting the association between propellant degradation and exposure to moisture in the air.
The latest expansion appears to have been prompted by a December accident in which a driver was reportedly killed by shrapnel after his Ranger’s airbag inflator exploded after the vehicle hit a cow in the road.
Safety advocates have argued that faulty inflators should be recalled in all markets, as the failure root cause is not yet completely understood. Some vehicles also spend a significant period of time in high-humidity environments despite registration or sale in another state, such as Florida snowbirds who keep their vehicles registered in a Northern state but drive in the balmy Sunshine State.
“Ford is aware of one report of a death related to a Takata airbag deployment,” the company noted in its recall announcement, without elaborating.
The same inflators were reportedly used in millions of vehicles from several automakers, pointing to an additional wave of related announcements in the near future.
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