Find Out If Your Air Bags Are Part Of Massive Recall

By SUSAN C. SCHENA (Patch Staff)

The recent Takata air bag recall is one of the largest and most complex product recalls in history, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an online tool to find out if your vehicle is affected.

All of the vehicle identification numbers, or VINs, affected by the Takata recall are now loaded into the VIN Lookup Tool on the NHTSA website, SaferCar.gov.

This means that consumers can find out if their vehicle is part of the Takata recall by simply searching with a vehicle identification number, or VIN, on the website.

Some background information from the NHTSA on the recall:

“Last month, Takata announced a national recall of certain types of driver and passenger side air bag inflators. These inflators were made with a propellant that can degrade over time and has led to ruptures that have been blamed for seven deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide.”

This recall involves 11 different vehicle makes and roughly 34 million vehicles.

You can find the full list of makes affected by the Takata recall on the Recalls Spotlight page.

Another great tool is the video, Understanding Vehicle Recalls. The video explains what to expect if a car is recalled and what to do next, says the NHTSA. Registering for recall updates on vehicle, tires, or car seats can also keep consumers notified about recalls that matter to them, the NHTSA states.

The NHTSA VIN Lookup Tool now has all of the Takata affected VINs loaded for searching.

--Image courtesy of the NHTSA on Facebook