CNN
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Stellantis is recalling nearly 285,000 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans in the US as a result of they’ve aspect curtain airbag inflators that would burst, sending steel shrapnel flying by means of the cabin.
Airbag inflators depend on a chemical response that produces fuel that quickly inflates the airbag. Moisture might have gotten inside inflators put in in some 2018 by means of 2021 Charger and 300 fashions within the manufacturing course of. That water might result in inner corrosion and, probably, cracks within the inflator, in accordance with documents Stellantis filed with the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration.
The Charger and 300 are massive sedans that share most of their engineering. The airbag inflators concerned on this recall weren’t put in in another Stellantis fashions, in accordance with the paperwork.
Whereas the scenario is much like that which led to the recall of thousands and thousands of Takata airbag inflators utilized in many alternative automobiles, this drawback is outwardly unrelated.
Starting in early Could, Stellantis will mail letters to Charger and 300 house owners with vehicles that would have the issue. House owners might be instructed to convey their vehicles right into a dealership to have the aspect airbags on either side of the automobiles changed. The work might be achieved at no cost to house owners, and individuals who might have already got had their aspect curtain airbags changed might be reimbursed for the fee.
Stellantis just isn’t conscious of any accidents or accidents ensuing from these points. There have been 5 recognized situations wherein the airbag inflators burst. In every case, they have been in parked automobiles wherein the inside temperature reached over 120 levels, which it will possibly, particularly in scorching climate.