Mitsubishi Endeavor Recall for 2010 Vehicles Over Defective Airbags

More than 500 Mitsubishi Endeavors from the 2010 model year are being recalled due to potentially defective airbags, and the company has stopped sales on the vehicle until the defect is fixed.

The company announced the airbag recall last week, saying that the retainer bracket for seat-mounted side airbags on both the driver and passenger sides appear to have been incorrectly welded in some vehicles. This could lead to the airbags failing to open or deploying incorrectly during a side impact, potentially causing injury to occupants.

The Mitsubishi Endeavor recall affects 531 vehicles manufactured between May 26 and July 28, 2009. The company began notifying owners of the affected vehicles on Tuesday and issued a “stop sale” on all 2010 Mitsubishi Endeavors as of September 3 until all potentially affected vehicles can be inspected.

Recalled vehicles will be inspected by Mitsubishi dealers, and if the brackets have a faulty weld they will be replaced at no cost to the customer. No injuries have been reported as a result of the defect.

The recall is the second major airbag recall in the last year. In August, Honda expanded an earlier recall first issued in November 2008 to include 440,000 vehicles, including 2001 and 2002 Accords, 2002 and 2003 Acura TL Sedans and 2001 Civics.

The Honda airbag problems were linked to a defect that could cause the inflator to over-pressurize the airbag when deployed, resulting in high pressure that could cause the inflator to rupture, sending a burst of metal shrapnel into the passenger compartment. The defect is only known to occur in the driver’s side airbag and at least one person has been killed as a result of the defect and several others injured