FORD has issued an urgent warning over a fault that has been linked to dozens of deaths.
The American automaker sent out letters to owners with the potentially deadly airbag last week.
It only affects vehicles that are fitted with a “certain” Takata driver airbag, which is designed to protect the owner in an emergency.
Among the affected cars are the Mondeo, and Smax.
However, a “combination of time, high temperature fluctuations, and humidity” can contribute to the degradation of the device.
This can lead to inflators exploding and unleashing metal shrapnel inside cars, vans, and trucks at high speed at the occupants.
In a letter seen by the Scottish Sun, Ford said: “This degradation can cause the propellant to burn too quickly when the airbag is deployed in the event of an accident.
“When the propellant burns too quickly, high pressure inside the inflator can cause it to rupture.”
It adds: “A ruptured inflator can send metal inflator parts towards vehicle occupants at high speed, resulting in serious injury or death.”
The car maker claimed it would take 40 minutes to fix and is free of charge from an authorised Ford dealer.
However, it is possible that this could extend beyond Ford vehicles.
The Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) released data to car magazine Auto Express in November.
It claimed that around 5.3 million vehicles in the UK are affected by the faulty part, out of potentially nearly 100 million worldwide.
More than 30 people worldwide have died with hundreds of injuries in various other automakers’ vehicles since 2009 linked to Takata airbag inflators.
In April 2016, 17-year-old Huma Hanif of Richmond, Texas, was one of the many people allegedly tragically killed by the faulty airbag.
The airbag inflators activated and exploded, tearing apart a metal canister that split into shards of metal and plastic and striking Hanif’s neck.
She drove a 2002 Honda Civic with a defective Takata airbag when another car rear-ended her.
The Ford airbag warning comes after Toyota recalled 50,000 older US cars over fears linked to the allegedly dangerous airbag.
The Japanese automaker told owners to “not drive” cars from 2003–04 fitted with airbags.
Ford has been contacted for a comment.
