The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urges owners of certain Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors vehicles to act immediately on recall notices to replace defective Takata airbags.

Air bag inflators made by Takata can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out in a crash.

The problem has caused four deaths and multiple injuries.  It has only been heavily reported in the most humid areas of the country, but the risk exists nationwide.

So far automakers have recalled about 12 million vehicles worldwide due to the problem.  Almost 8 million here in the US.

The accident or crash doesn't have to be severe for the airbag to deploy.  Fender benders where there would be little to no injury have resulted in death due solely to the airbag defect.

Vehicle owners can call the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Safety Hotline: 1-888-327-4236

See the complete list of affected vehicles  - Click Here

You can read more about the problem by clicking here.

Here's the NBC Nightly News Report on the problem -

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Parallel Parked Cars (Getty)
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