Photo: Continental
Automotive supplier Continental will initiate a recall action to replace airbag control units for approximately five million vehicles in the US alone.
According to the first report on the situation, the recall is not related to the Takata problem, but to a different matter. It appears that airbag control units built over a five-year period may be defective. In the case of an accident, the airbags may not deploy, or the faulty control unit could activate the airbags without the need to do so. The main issue with the units may be their increased risk of corrosion, which may render the devices useless or cause electrical faults.
Some documents made public today reveal that airbag control units made by Continental between the years 2006 and 2010 are affected. This means that over five million vehicles sold by several brands are impacted. An official list of all models fitted with potentially defective airbag control modules has yet to be published, but a company spokesperson has specified that corporations like Daimler, Honda, and Fiat Chrysler will have to call back their vehicles to address the issue.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been notified of the fault and the recall action. We expect them to deliver further information on the topic in the coming days. For the moment, it is unclear whether these defective airbag control modules have led to the injury or death of people in accidents.
In October 2015, Mercedes-Benz issued a recall action for the 2008 and 2009 Model Years for the C-Class and GLK to replace their airbag control modules. At the time, we learned from the NHTSA bulletin that the units were made by Continental, and they could corrode. The oxidation of the component could cause the airbags to deploy without reason or warning or to fail to act in the case of an accident. The description sounds like the situation mentioned in the Automotive News report published today.
We expect to find out more in the coming days, and we’ll keep you posted once we obtain further information.
Some documents made public today reveal that airbag control units made by Continental between the years 2006 and 2010 are affected. This means that over five million vehicles sold by several brands are impacted. An official list of all models fitted with potentially defective airbag control modules has yet to be published, but a company spokesperson has specified that corporations like Daimler, Honda, and Fiat Chrysler will have to call back their vehicles to address the issue.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been notified of the fault and the recall action. We expect them to deliver further information on the topic in the coming days. For the moment, it is unclear whether these defective airbag control modules have led to the injury or death of people in accidents.
In October 2015, Mercedes-Benz issued a recall action for the 2008 and 2009 Model Years for the C-Class and GLK to replace their airbag control modules. At the time, we learned from the NHTSA bulletin that the units were made by Continental, and they could corrode. The oxidation of the component could cause the airbags to deploy without reason or warning or to fail to act in the case of an accident. The description sounds like the situation mentioned in the Automotive News report published today.
We expect to find out more in the coming days, and we’ll keep you posted once we obtain further information.
Google News