Ford Motor said on Sunday it is cooperating with U.S. safety regulators regarding a report that a driver of a 2007 Ford Mustang was injured in August by a metal fragment from the vehicle's air bag.
The 2007 Mustang was part of a recall last summer involving millions of vehicles from nine different manufacturers over air bag inflators made by Japanese supplier Takata Corp could break and send metal fragments into the cabin, according to Reuters.
The regional recalls were carried out in high-humidity states like Florida after Takata said the inflators could rupture if exposed to extreme humidity or moisture.
North Carolina is not one of the "high-humidity" states listed in Ford's June recall, which covered places like Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The owner of the 2007 Mustang filed a complaint on Oct. 30 with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Ford couldn't confirm that the 2007 Mustang involved in the accident was equipped with Takata air bags.
"Based on the field reports and testing currently available, the Takata airbag inflator designs used in Ford vehicles have not shown the same risk of fragmentation as other Takata airbag inflator designs used by other manufacturers," said Ford in a statement this weekend. "We are continuing to investigate this issue, and we are cooperating fully with NHTSA and Takata."
Ford's recall covered 58,669 vehicles. It was expanded last month to 85,023 vehicles, including 61,000 Mustangs from model years 2005-2008, 23,700 Ford Ranger pickups from model years 2004-2005, and 256 Ford GT sports cars from 2005-2006.
The NHTSA complaint about the accident in North Carolina said the vehicle "crashed into the rear end of another vehicle" at about 35 miles per hour.
"The air bag deployed with abrupt force and a metal fragment dislodged, causing injury to the driver's leg, which required medical attention," the complaint said.
Ruptured inflators in air bags made by Takata have been linked to four deaths in the U.S. and one in Malaysia so far.
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