MONEY

Chrysler gives in, expands air bag recall nationally

Alisa PriddleDetroit Free Press

Chrysler has joined other automakers in meeting government demands for a national recall of vehicles with potentially dangerous driver-side air bag inflators that can explode and spray dangerous shrapnel.

After resisting for several weeks, Chrysler issued a statement today that it will recall 3.3 million older vehicles globally, including nearly 2.9 million in the U.S., as demanded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This brings the total to almost 3.7 million affected vehicles.

The recall includes Chrysler's popular 2004-07 Ram pickup as well as the Dodge Durango, Charger, Magnum, Dakota and Chrysler Aspen and 300 as well as the Mitsubishi Raider pickup.

The vehicles have air bags with inflators made by Japan's Takata which continues to work with automakers in an attempt to identify the root of the problem.

The recall previously was limited to Hawaii, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on the premise humidity is a contributing factor.

Chrysler (just officially renamed FCA US LLC), notes the inflators in its vehicles are not from the same batch as ones involved in fatalities in the vehicles of other automakers.

"More than 1,000 laboratory tests have been performed on these components," Chrysler says in its statement. "All deployed as intended, but FCA US continues to study the suspect inflators, which are not used in the company's current production vehicles."

The government demanded that five automakers expand recalls. BMW is now the lone holdout.

Chrysler executives met with NHTSA on Wednesday and the automaker filed its paperwork late this afternoon.

Affected customers will be notified for a service appointment but replacement parts will be distributed in areas with high humidity first. Customers with questions may call 1-800-853-1403.

Associated Press contributed. Contact Alisa Priddle: 313-222-5394 or apriddle@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisaPriddle