The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was denying petitions filed by Ford and Mazda Motor Corp in 2017 seeking to avoid recalling vehicles with potentially dangerous inflators. 

The decision also will require Mazda to recall and repair driver air bags in approximately 5 800 vehicles. The recalls will cover various vehicles from the 2006 through 2012 model years.

The defect, which leads in rare instances to air bag inflators rupturing and sending potentially deadly metal fragments flying - especially after long-term exposure to high humidity - prompted the largest automotive recall in US history of more than 67 million inflators. Worldwide, about 100 million inflators installed by 19 major automakers have been recalled.  

The NHTSA said the “evidence makes clear that these inflators pose a significant safety risk.”

Earlier this month, the auto safety agency said at least 17 million vehicles with Takata air bags remain unrepaired. Takata inflators have resulted in the deaths of at least 27 people worldwide and 18 in the United States, and over 400 reported injuries,

Ford said on Tuesday that the vehicles the NHTSA was ordering be recalled were subject to an earlier Takata recall for the passenger-side airbag, but did not comment further.

--Reuters—