Passenger Frontal Air Bag Inflator May Explode – 2013 McLaren MP4-12C

January 5, 2018

Passenger Frontal Air Bag Inflator May Explode

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

 

NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V007

Manufacturer McLaren Automotive Incorporated

Components AIR BAGS

Potential Number of Units Affected 231

 

Summary

McLaren Automotive Incorporated (McLaren) is recalling certain 2013 MP4-12C vehicles ever registered in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.

 

Remedy

McLaren will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. Owners may contact McLaren customer service at 1-646-429-8916.

 

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

 

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IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL

This notice applies to your vehicle,

Recall Number 18V-007 — Passenger Front Airbag

 

March 6, 2018

Dear

This notice is sent to you in accordance with the requirements of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. McLaren Automotive Incorporated (“McLaren“) has decided that a defect relating to motor vehicle safety exists in certain 2013 model year McLaren MP412C vehicles.

Our records indicate that you are the owner of a vehicle affected by this recall action.

 

What is the issue?

Certain components in Takata airbags may degrade over time which, in the event of a crash resulting in the deployment of the passenger’s frontal airbag, may lead to an explosion of the airbag resulting in sharp metal fragments striking a vehicle’s passenger potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

 

What will McLaren do?

McLaren will replace the passenger’s front airbag with a newly designed passenger’s front airbag FOR FREE.

 

Other Important Information

You have received this notice because our records indicate that you are the owner of the vehicle affected by this recall action. If this is not the case, or if any of the information contained in this letter is not correct please contact McLaren’s Customer Relations Department at 646-429-8916 on Monday to Friday between 9am and 6pm EST.

If you are a vehicle lessor, Federal law requires that any vehicle lessor receiving this recall notice must forward a copy of this notice to the vehicle lessee within ten days of your receipt of this letter.

 

What should you do now?

Please contact a McLaren authorised retailer as soon as possible to schedule an appointment to have the passenger’s front airbag in your vehicle replaced FOR FREE. The replacement of your passenger’s front airbag can be carried out by any McLaren authorised retailer. The replacement will take approximately 5 hours. Depending on the retailer’s work schedule, it may be necessary for you to make your vehicle available for a longer period of time.

You do not need to bring this letter with you to the retailer to have this FREE repair performed. However, to assist the retailer to confirm vehicle eligibility, we request that you present this letter to the retailer at the time of your scheduled appointment.

 

What if you have any questions?

Should you have any questions or require any further assistance, you may contact McLaren’s Customer Relation Department via email at 646-429-8916 on Monday to Friday between 9am and 6pm EST.

You may also contact NHTSA with any questions or concerns you have regarding this recall at 1-888-327-4236.

If you believe that McLaren or your McLaren retailer has failed, or is unable to remedy the defect without charge within a reasonable time, you may submit a complaint to the Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue S.E., Washington, DC 20590, or you may call the toll-free Vehicle Safety Hot Line at 1— 888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153), or go to NHTSA.gov.

We sincerely regret any inconvenience this condition may cause you. However, your safety is our highest priority.

 

Anthony Joseph
President
McLaren Automotive Incorporated

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1 Affected Product

Vehicle

MAKE	MODEL	YEAR
MCLAREN	MP4-12C	2013

 

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10 Associated Documents

Recall Acknowledgement

RCAK-18V007-5910.pdf 245.757KB

 

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Defect Notice 573 Report

RCLRPT-18V007-1511.PDF 216.698KB

 

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Recall 573 Report – AMENDMENT 1

RCLRPT-18V007-5721.PDF 216.719KB

 

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-18V007-4112.pdf 567.062KB

 

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Recall Quarterly Report #2, 2018-2

RCLQRT-18V007-9845.PDF 214.616KB

 

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Manufacturer Notices(to Dealers,etc)- Urgent – Immediate Action Required – MP4 12C Passenger Front Airbag – Module Replacement – North America

RCMN-18V007-0272.pdf 786.284KB

 

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Remedy Instructions and TSB

RCRIT-18V007-3055.pdf 404.781KB

 

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Recall Quarterly Report #4, 2018-4

RCLQRT-18V007-7392.PDF 211.433KB

 

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Recall Quarterly Report #1, 2018-1

RCLQRT-18V007-6684.PDF 214.515KB

 

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Recall Quarterly Report #3, 2018-3

RCLQRT-18V007-1888.PDF 211.323KB

 

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1 Associated Investigation

Air Bag Inflator Rupture
NHTSA ID: EA15001
Dated opened: February 24, 2015

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers. All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.

During the course of PE14-016, ODI determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by Takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers. Nonetheless, at ODI’s insistence, all 10 vehicle manufacturers initiated a regional recall within approximately two weeks of the opening of the investigation. The regions recalled initially included Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, areas with high absolute humidity and climatic conditions believed to be a significant factor in the inflator ruptures. As part of the recall actions, inflators removed from remedied vehicles are to be returned to Takata for testing.

Takata’s initial test results on passenger inflators from remedied vehicles indicated a much higher than anticipated rupture frequency for inflators returned from Florida. Accordingly ODI requested all 10 manufacturers expand the regional recalls for passenger inflators to include other geographic areas where high absolute humidity conditions exist, including the Gulf States and other coastal areas. Takata’s testing of the passenger inflators to date continues to indicate this geographic area as having the highest risk, with no ruptures occurring from inflators returned from outside the expanded recall regions. During PE14-016 four additional passenger inflator field events occurred, all in vehicles from the same expanded geographic region.

Also during PE14-016 four additional driver inflator field events occurred including two in vehicles from regions not known for high absolute humidity, specifically California and North Carolina. Accordingly, ODI requested all five of the affected vehicle manufacturers currently using the subject Takata driver inflators expand to nationwide recalls. Significantly, neither of the affected vehicle manufacturers or Takata provided any explanation to account for these two driver air bag inflator ruptures outside the area of high absolute humidity. Takata testing of returned driver inflators indicates a lower rupture frequency as compared to passenger inflator testing. All test ruptures reported by Takata to date have occurred on inflators returned from high absolute humidity areas.

The investigation now includes all manufacturers and vehicles known to be affected at this time. ODI’s investigation will focus on, among other things, root cause analysis, other potential defect consequences, identification of affected vehicles scope, and adequacy of the remedy.

The five ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification numbers: 10537899, 10568848, 10585224, 10605877, 10651492

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Latest Recalls Documents

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/documentList.xhtml?docId=18V007&docType=RCL

 

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