AIRBAGS -- Another 40 million or so to be recalled

Anybody checked the manufacturer of the airbags in their Pri? In my 2001 it turned out to be Daicel Safety Systems, not Takata ... though I suppose they could use various suppliers even within a model year.

-Chap

 

Here's the prior info re: Toyotas (no Prii) unclear if any change

Takata Airbag Recall Info from Consumer Reports | PriusChat

Looks like CR link is updated as of 4-May and I see no Prii

 

Lookup Safety Recalls & Service Campaigns by VIN

Check by VIN Current as of 5/4/16

 

How did you check this? I looked in that thread but maybe I missed it. Is it relatively simple?

 

took my 2005 dodge dakota in monday. it took them almost all day. i can't imagine how much this is costing takada, they must be quite a large company to survive.

 

Well, I was checking my 2001, which only has two airbags, one in the steering wheel and one over the glove box. Not like these newfangled models with both of those plus two in the seatbacks plus one over the driver's knees plus curtains along the roof etc. So it was pretty simple, given I had already picked up the manuals so I knew how to take them out without setting them off in my face, and I just took pictures of the labels on the back and put them back in.

I had been hoping to read the label on the passenger side by just dropping the glove box and getting a good upward angle with my phone camera, but no such luck, in a Gen 1 the big instrument panel support pipe is perfectly positioned to block view of the airbag label. So I had to take the airbag out to look, which had frustrating moments; it would be easy if your fingers were six inches long and pencil-thin, just to get to two pesky nuts that are just there to slow down smash-and-grab airbag thieves, I guess.

On the steering wheel side, of course there is no view of the label on the back of the airbag without taking it out, but that one's easy; it's just the front steering wheel pad and held on by two nice accessible bolts (for Gen 1 anyway).

-Chap

 

Hmm. It's kind of incredible to me that there's not an easy way to find out the manufacturer of the parts of your vehicle. I don't really want to disassemble my car to find that information!

 

Well, presumably Toyota does have those records, and will eventually get around to letting you know if you do have the parts involved in the recall. I think back when I checked, it still seemed like Takata and the car makers were trying really hard to circumscribe the problem as, you know, cars in Gulf states that parked facing east under the full moon, and it didn't fill me with confidence and I just wanted to know, like, the way I know when I've looked at the label myself.

-Chap

 

Gee I would think chances of a 2015 Prius being included are unlikely. This issue goes back 2009 or so when they realized there was a Takata problem. Well Honda gets criticism for sticking with Takata.
So far that 2010 Lexus is most recent Toyota USA vehicle.


Toyota (older list)

• 2003-2008 Corolla
• 2003-2008 Corolla Matrix
• 2004-2005 Rav4
• 2002-2007 Sequoia
• 2003-2006 Tundra
• 2002-2010 Lexus SC

 

Well maybe I am being too optimistic.
Toyota with Honda was one of the biggest users of Takata.
And it looks like it wasn't until 2015 that the root cause was verified (ammonium nitrate) and only then did the auto makers stop using.

 

Finally got around to standing on my head under the glove box of new-to-me 2010 and happy to see I still have a passenger inflator made by Daicel. (Also that it's possible to stick the phone in the right place and get a shot of the label, without the effort of taking the wretched thing out, as I had to in Gen 1!)


Also interesting that this looks like a straight pyrotechnic inflator, not the hybrid gas-filled kind that was used on the passenger side in Gen 1.

At some point I might pop the one off the steering wheel and check it ... probably not OCD enough to go checking the other, what, five more, in a 2010 ....

-Chap

 

good link. inside there is a link to lab analysis of aged Takata inflators. fascinating read: http://www.safercar.gov/rs/takata/pdfs/Expert_Report-HRBlomquist.pdf

 

I also updated this THREAD (below) with the newest recalls from Toyota announced earlier this week

Takata Airbag Recall Info from Consumer Reports | PriusChat