Takata Air Bag Recall Shrinks, But Probe Widens

For embattled Japanese air bag maker Takata, this week brought good news and bad, NBC News reported.

U.S. safety regulators announced Tuesday that the recall linked to potentially deadly frontal airbags will be smaller than originally predicted. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also said the latest investigation could potentially expand a future recall to cover not just older vehicles but millions of newer models. The new NHTSA probe is targeting a wider range of air bag types, including side-impact restraints, not just the frontal devices covered by the original Takata recall.

The current recall was triggered by reports that at least eight people had been killed, with at least 100 more injured, due to faulty air bag inflators, the explosive devices that cause frontal driver and passenger airbags to burst from their hiding place in the steering wheel and dashboard in a forward crash.

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