Dear Valued Sprinter Owner,
The
automotive industry is facing an unprecedented challenge with respect to the
recall of Takata airbags. As you probably know, the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) has made the determination that millions of
Takata airbags are potentially defective and the inflators in these airbags, if
defective, could explode causing injury or even death. Daimler Vans uses these
driver-side and passenger-side Takata airbags in many of our vehicles and,
while we have not seen any related incidents in our vehicles, given NHTSA's
determination that a safety risk exists, we are recalling Sprinter vehicles
which use the affected airbags. Your safety and peace of mind are our top
priority.
Given the sheer size of the total affected vehicle population, NHTSA is making
the determinations as to when and to whom available airbags are allocated under
their Coordinated Remedy Program. This means that we are subject to parts
availability constraints as we seek to bring Sprinter vehicles back to our
dealerships to have these airbags replaced. This is not a desirable situation
but it is one over which we have little control.
We ask for your patience as we work through these logistics. You have our assurance that we are bringing every resource to bear in order to address this issue so as to effect a remedy and minimize the inconvenience to you.
We will keep this page updated with information as it becomes available and will, of course, inform you individually as the parts become available. Should you need additional assistance, please visit www.mbusa.com, and use the "Email/Write" section under Customer Support, or call 1-877-496-3691.
Once again, we sincerely regret any disruption or inconvenience this situation may have caused and ask for your understanding and your patience as we address this issue.
Bernie Glaser
Vice President and Managing Director
Daimler Vans USA, LLC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Certain Sprinter vehicles are equipped with driver-side and passenger-side front airbags provided by the supplier TK Holdings Inc. ("Takata"). On January 25, 2016 Takata filed a Defect Information Report with NHTSA announcing a potential defect in some of the subject inflators. Based upon Takata's information to date, "Takata is aware of three field ruptures of non-desiccated SDI inflators. One of these was in the United States and two were outside of the United States." DAG is not aware of any field incidents with the subject Takata SDI inflators. However, based on the information above and in an abundance of caution, DAG will conduct a voluntary recall of the vehicles equipped with subject Takata SDI inflators in the United States as identified by Takata in the Defect Information Report.
On May 16, 2016, Takata submitted an additional "Defect Information Report" to NHTSA that included SPI-2 passenger-side airbag inflators.
In a crash where the air bag system deploys, the air bag inflator housing may rupture. In the event of an inflator rupture, metal fragments could pass through the air bag material, which may result in injury or death to vehicle occupants. To date, we are not aware of any instances of ruptured inflators in Sprinter vehicles.
What are the ranges for the individual model lines for driver-side airbags?
Included are various
2007-2014
Freightliner Sprinter Vehicle
2010-2014 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Vehicle
What are the ranges for the individual model lines for passenger-side airbags?
Included are various
2007-2011 Freightliner Sprinter
Vehicles
2010-2011 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Vehicles
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