US probes Takata air bags in 200 models from 20 automakers

DETROIT — Over 30 million air bags in more than 200 models from 20 car and truck makers are being investigated by a U.S. safety agency because they have the potential to explode and hurl shrapnel. In a document posted Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it opened the probe into air bag inflators made from 2011 through 2019 by now-bankrupt Takata that weren’t recalled previously. “While no present safety risk has been identified, further work is needed to evaluate the future risk of non-recalled dessicated inflators,” the agency said in the document. Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit advocacy group, said he’s not sure what caused the agency to change from last year. Levine said the agency should have begun the investigation last year so owners of vehicles with the questionable inflators could know by now whether their air bag systems are safe or whether they’re defective.