The German automobile giant BMW announced on Monday a nationwide recall of all their vehicles that were built with driver side air bag inflators made by Takata Corporation.
BMW has followed advice by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for car manufacturers to recall as many vehicles as possible beyond the limited boundaries with high levels of humidity.
The car company had previously limited that recall to about 11,700 cars in Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Takata has confirmed that when its air bags are exposed to high humidity it can cause damage by breaking the propellant in inflators, potentially shooting metal fragments into vehicle occupants.
At first the recall only occurred in areas where there are high levels of humidity. However, the NHTSA became more vigilant when there were still reports of incidents occurring in the country.
Under increasing pressure from lawmakers last month the NHTSA demanded that Takata and automakers make their recalls nationwide.
BMW has assured the NHTSA that it will recall up to 140,000 BMW 3 series vehicles in the US (ranging from model years 2004 to 2006).
According to the New York Times, BMW has said that none of the reported rupture cases have involved a BMW vehicle.
“But with so many issues at play,” said David Buchko, a BMW spokesman, “our approach is to use an abundance of caution.”
Takata has respected BMW’s approach and said it was “committed to support any decisions our customers make” when it comes to safety recalls.
As vehicles today have more and more equipment and dedicated software becomes more sophisticated, the number of recalls by car manufacturers has increased.