Stellantis Issues Stop-Drive Warning Over Airbags in Older Cars

Stellantis’s FCA US unit urgently warns U.S.-market owners or custodians of model-year 2005-2010 Dodge Magnum station wagons, Dodge Challenger coupes and Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans to immediately stop driving their vehicles if they have not yet addressed Takata driver-side airbag recalls. 

FCA is voluntarily issuing this warning, which covers about 276,000 vehicles. Airbags subject to this recall no longer are used in FCA vehicle production.

“Owners or custodians of these vehicles will be contacted directly, advised to stop driving their vehicles and urged to obtain the necessary service, which continues to be available free of charge at any certified FCA-brand dealer,” the Auburn Hills, MI-based automaker says in a statement.

“The longer these particular vehicles remain unrepaired, the greater the risk of an airbag rupture, in event of a crash. Free replacement driver-side airbags have been available for this population since 2015,” the statement says.

Although many owners say they don’t have time to have the airbags replaced, the repair procedure takes well under one hour, FCA says.

FCA says it is the first automaker to migrate from Takata to an alternate source of replacement parts, and says it has sufficient inventory of new airbags to meet demand.

Customers who are unaware of their vehicles’ recall status are urged to call 833-585-0144. They may also check their Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) at mopar.com/recalls, checktoprotect.org or nhtsa.gov/recalls.