DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is expanding its Takata airbag inflator recall for the fourth time, adding about 953,000 vehicles to the list.
The callback announced on Friday involves passenger-side inflators on 782,384 vehicles in the U.S. and 149,652 in Canada. Affected vehicles are the 2010 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX; the 2010-11 Ford Ranger; 2010-12 Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ and Mercury Milan; and 2010-14 Ford Mustang.
Faulty Takata airbag inflators may explode and shoot shrapnel toward vehicle occupants, potentially resulting in injury or death. An estimated 23 deaths — including two in Ford vehicles — and more than 290 injuries worldwide have been linked to the defective inflators. Ford agreed to a $299 million legal settlement last year for its portion of the airbag defect liability.
Six other automakers previously agreed to similar settlements worth over $1.2 billion combined: Honda Motor Co.; Toyota Motor Corp.; Nissan Motor Co.; Mazda Motor Corp.; Subaru Corp. and BMW AG.
Ford said it is unaware of any injuries associated with the passenger-side frontal inflators covered in the latest expanded safety recall.
Heidi King, deputy chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told Reuters in December that out of 37 million vehicles with 50 million inflators under recall, 16.7 million airbag inflators have not been replaced. She also said average repair rates rose by 30 percent last year.
The ongoing safety issue has be named the largest auto industry safety recall in history, involving about 100 million inflators among 19 major automakers.
