Chrysler has finally responded to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s investigation into defective airbag inflators produced by supplier Takata.
Four major Japanese automakers have announced formal recalls over the issue, affecting millions of vehicles, however Chrysler has decided to address the problem as a “field action.”
“This is not a safety recall,” Chrysler said in a statement. “Chrysler Group has not identified a defect. This is a field action conducted out of an abundance of caution.”
The company will still replace the airbag inflators on many vehicles, but only in Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The regional focus is tied to evidence that Takata’s inflators are more likely to violently explode when they are activated in humid environments.
The NHTSA investigation cited several accidents in Florida and Puerto Rico, each causing injuries that were blamed on shrapnel from an exploding inflator. In at least one case the airbag failed to deploy, though no deaths have been officially blamed on the defect.
Despite Chrysler’s claim that it has not identified a safety issue, the company has acknowledged at least one injury in a vehicle equipped with one of the faulty airbag inflators.
The scope of the field action remains unclear, though the NHTSA identified the 2006 Dodge Charger as one of the vehicles that was built with the problematic components.