There is an urgent update on those defective Takata airbags.
Thursday morning, federal safety officials issued an urgent new warning after tests found some of the air bags may be even more prone to deadly malfunctions than previously thought.
If drivers with an older car are urged to take action immediately. Brand new data has federal officials desperately trying to reach owners of older cars.
Mark Rosekind, PHD and administrator with National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said, “With this new data - we know how bad it could really be. Literally flipping a coin in a crash, you don't know if you could end up having the shrapnel coming at you."
Officials with the NHTSA estimates there are 300,000 of these older cars on the road, that that have not yet been repaired.
Notifications have been sent, but some owners haven't followed up.
New tests on these older cars with Takata air bags found that when people drove them in hot damp places like Florida along the Gulf Coast to Texas and Southern California, the inflators malfunctioned caused an explosion that sent shrapnel flying.
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In lab tests the inflators ruptured 50 percent of the time.
Rosekind added, “Of the 10 united states lives that have been lost eight have been in these vehicles."
Many cars in this new warning have been recalled since 2008. Honda says 70 percent have been repaired. It's the other 30 percent they are trying to find and fix, one car at a time.
Federal officials say the higer-risk inflators are in certain 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles.
2001-2002 Honda Civic
2001-2002 Honda Accord
2002-2003 Acura TL
2002 Honda CR-V
2002 Honda Odyssey
2003 Acura CL
2003 Honda Pilot
In a statement, Honda said its taking extraordinary measures to reach owners: millions of letters, phone calls, text messages, media ads.
