When the Takata airbag recalls were in full swing back in 2016, it was hard not to hear about them.Since then, the issue has fallen out of the public eye to some degree. However, experts note that the recalls are not over yet, and they may not be for years. It is important for people to continue paying attention to the developments.
All told, about 50 million vehicles with the problematic airbag inflators got recalled. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) thinks that only around 60 percent of those vehicles have already been repaired.
If you want to look at the overall totals, it is estimated that around 70 to 80 percent of the cars and trucks from the 2016 and 2017 recalls did make it into the shop for needed repairs.
However, while saying that more than half of the defective airbags were fixed is a step in the right direction, it still means that 40 percent of those vehicles never got repaired at all. When you're talking about 50 million vehicles in total, that's a large number of potentially dangerous cars and trucks that are still on the road. As such, it is projected that the recalls will keep going until 2020 at the earliest, and it could take longer to get through all of the vehicles with the defective airbags.
Auto defects are potentially very serious and can be fatal. If you get injured or lose a loved one as the result of a defective vehicle, you need to make sure that you know your legal options.