Airbag Issues Prompts Mitsubishi Recall

When you purchase a car, you have a right to expect that the vehicle will be safe and that the car will operate efficiently. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. A Sacramento-area lemon law firm can provide you with help if you have bought a car that turns out to have a lot of defects. 

In some cases, cars are sold with serious problems that necessitate a recall. Just recently, for example, ABC reported that Mitsubishi was forced to recall 84,000 small cars.

Mitsubishi Recalls Vehicles Due to Airbag Problems

According to ABC, the affected Mitsubishi's include Mirage models from 2014 to 2018.  The vehicles are being recalled because the safety restraint computer on the vehicles may malfunction. The computer may interpret normal vibrations on the road as a sensor error, causing the car's air bags to disable. The computer may also interpret a flat tire in the same way, causing the air bag to become disabled.

If the air bags do become disabled, the driver would see a warning light appear on the car's dashboard. It is not clear if there have been any incidents in which accidents occurred and air bags did not deploy because of the fact they were disabled due to the glitch. It is also not clear if any crashes have occurred due to the defect or if anyone has been hurt as a result of the malfunctioning Mitsubishi airbags.

Mitsubishi has indicated that the car company will reprogram the safety restraint computers as part of the recall efforts. Consumers whose vehicles have the malfunctioning computer will not be charged anything for the repairs of the defect. Repairs began in November and were expected to continue for some time as drivers brought in the 84,000 Mitsubishi Mirage's affected by the recall to be repaired.

This incident is one of many in recent years where vehicles have had to be recalled as a direct result of problems with air bags. In some cases, the air bags were especially dangerous because they could send shrapnel and metal parts throughout the car and potentially cause serious or deadly injuries. Air bag problems are among the issues that have led to a record number of vehicle recalls.  Unfortunately, not all drivers end up getting their cars repaired when there is an open recall, which means that there are dangerous cars out on the road which create substantial risks for their drivers and passengers.

When cars are recalled, motorists should get their car repairs made as quickly as practical so they eliminate the danger that is presented by the car defects. Drivers should also regularly check their vehicle models for news of recalls and used car buyers should check car VIN numbers to make sure a car they are looking at or a car they have purchased does not have an unrepaired recall.

For drivers with vehicles that have defects which have not been subject to a recall, talking with a Sacramento-area lemon law firm about options is also advisable as the consumer may have certain rights to legal remedies if they have a new car they have experienced repeated problems with. Contact a lemon law attorney as soon as possible for help when issues begin to occur.