Ford, Mazda advise against driving certain models over Takata airbag concerns

(Reuters) -Ford Motor and Mazda issued advisories to drivers of certain vehicles still affected by faulty Takata airbags and inflators that can cause potentially severe or fatal injuries.

The National Highway Safety Administration has previously warned that air bag inflators could explode in impacted vehicles, sending potentially deadly sharp metal fragments flying and striking the driver or passengers.

Ford has urged drivers with impacted vehicles to contact dealerships immediately for repairs.

The recall includes specific models of vehicles such as Ranger trucks, Mustang and GT sports cars, Fusion sedans and some SUVs, including its popular Edge model, among others.

The Detroit automaker said that roughly 765,600 airbag inflators in its vehicles, including about 374,300 in the U.S, continue to remain affected by the issue globally.

Ford added that it continues contacting customers about these previously issued recalls, with more than 121 million outreach attempts in the United States.

Mazda estimates that about 83,000 of its vehicles in the United States were affected, including models such as its CX-7 crossovers and RX8 sports cars. In July, BMW also recalled about 394,000 vehicles in the United States for the same issue.

Since 2009, more than 30 deaths, including at least 26 in the United States, and hundreds of injuries have been attributed to Takata airbags installed in vehicles from various automakers.

Over the past decade, more than 100 million vehicles with Takata airbag inflators have been recalled worldwide.

Once the world's leading supplier of airbags, Takata filed for bankruptcy in 2017 following the scandal.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)