"What the automaker is saying is park the car. We will send a tow truck, take it to the dealership, fix it for free, it bring it back to you," said Patrick Olson of Carfax.
Carfax just released a report that says despite being recalled ten years ago, more than 6 million vehicles in the U.S. are still equipped with Takata airbags.
The airbags, which can potentially send flying shrapnel when deployed in a crash, have been blamed for at least 27 deaths in the states and at least 400 injuries. And thousands of the vehicles are in our state and region.
"More than 204,000 vehicles in Pennsylvania, more than 120,000 in the Philadelphia region need to get these airbags replaced," warns Olson.
Vehicles manufactured by 19 automakers have been recalled. The air bags were installed between the model years 2001 and 2015.
If your vehicle is on the "Do Not Drive" list, that means the airbags must be replaced before drivers can safely operate their vehicles again.
This time of year makes this even more urgent.
"Heat and humidity are some of the determining factors that make this airbag much more potent than supposed to be. So especially before these summer months, people need to get these out of their cars. For a lot of owners, these airbags have been in their car for a decade or more. And so every summer is adding more and more risk," said Olson.
One of the issues is that some of the vehicles are not being driven by their original owners, so any current owner needs to check to see if the airbag still needs to be replaced.
To find out if your car is affected, visit Carfax.com/recall