The Takata air bag recall is now the largest in U.S. history


Automakers in the United States are recalling an additional 35 to 40 million air bag inflators manufactured by Takata, the company and U.S. Transportation Department said Wednesday.
Already, 28.8 million inflators assembled by Takata have been recalled to fix a defect that can cause air bags to explode during accidents, sending shrapnel through the air. The new recalls will be prioritized by age and risk of exposure to high humidity, conditions that affect the inflators, Reuters reports. There have been 11 deaths and about 100 injuries linked to the defective parts, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Mark Rosekind said this is "the largest recall in American history."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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