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Five automakers now being investigated by NHTSA for airbag woes

It appears that Toyota's renotification to owners of recalled vehicles from last year is just the tip of the iceberg for what could potentially be a much larger industry-wide recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening a preliminary evaluation investigation into roughly 1.1 million vehicles from Chrysler, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota and parts supplier Takata regarding faulty airbag inflators in several models.
NHTSA has received six reports - three directly, two from Takata and one from Toyota - of vehicles with ruptured airbag inflators from 2002-2006, which resulted in three injuries. So far, all six incidents have occurred in high humidity areas like Florida and Puerto Rico. According to Toyota's latest recall announcement, the inflators may have an improper propellant that could cause it to rupture in a crash and the bag to deploy abnormally.
This new investigation follows a previous recall from April 2013 of about 3.4 million vehicles worldwide for the airbag inflators from Takata. As Autoblog reported, Toyota jumpstarted the new situation when it found that the original list of serial numbers for the faulty part was incomplete and discovered more cars in need of replacement. Honda and Nissan told us that they were investigating whether further models would need called in again as well. Mazda told Autoblog: "Regarding the current Takata situation, we're working closely with NHTSA and investigating the situation, but nothing else to report at this time." Chrysler Group responded to us with the statement: "Chrysler Group engineers are conducting the appropriate analysis. The Company will cooperate fully with the National Highway Traffic Administration."

Mazda books first yearly profit in half-decade, NA still a drag

Automotive News reports Mazda has posted its first annual profit in five years. The company made $364.3 million in the last fiscal year, following a $1.14 billion loss the year prior. Operating profit also jumped up by $91.3 million to $572.8 million, thanks in part to a revenue increase of 8 percent to $23.42 billion.
But the news isn't all rays of sunshine. North America continues to be a problem for Mazda where the automaker posted yet another loss. The manufacturer lost $519.1 million last year, up from $427.8 million the year prior. While the launch of the CX-5 helped see US sales increase by 2 percent to 273,000 vehicles, the region as a whole bought up 372,000 units. Mazda had predicted closer to 380,000 units.
Even so, Mazda says it should have North America back in the black by next year, with the company forecasting a sales increase of 11 percent to 415,000 units in the region. That's thanks in part to a boost from the redesigned Mazda6 sedan.

Mazda 767B crashes during Goodwood, suffers heavy damage [UPDATE]

Update: Autoblog has learned that the Mazda 767B wrecked at Goodwood was being driven by Seniji Hoshino. He was not seriously harmed and was able to walk away from the crash. Hoshino's car was chassis 001 and scored a win in the GTP class of the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans. A Mazda 767B Group C racer suffered a crash the Goodwood Festival of Speed that tore off the rear wing and did some fairly serious looking front end damage. According to Jalopnik, the racer was taking a timed run during the event's famous hillclimb when it went into the hay bales. The driver is reportedly okay, though. We've reached out to Mazda and Goodwood sources to identify the pilot in question, with no luck so far. Look for an updated post later in the day if we get any answers on that front. Images of the sad wreck seem to be populating on Twitter feeds as we write this. The racing Mazda clearly suffered a big hit today; painful to look at even after the fact. But we're not sure if the damage is beyond the abilities of skilled factory workmen to fix. Our collective fingers are crossed. Mazda has a major presence at Goodwood this year, including the event's art installation. Among all of its vehicles, there are two privately owned 767Bs. These racers have a four-rotor engine, said to be good for more than 600 horsepower in racing trim, and are predecessors to the famous 787B that scored an overall win in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.