Ford to recall 391, 000 Ranger pickups

Ford will recall around 391,000 Ranger pickups due to risk of high force explosion of airbag inflators, which could cause injuries.

The recall includes trucks manufctured from 2004 through 2006 model years in the US and Canada.

The development comes only days after the government announced that a South Carolina man was killed when an inflator exploded in December. Joel Knight, 52,  died after metal shrapnel struck him in the neck when his 2006 Ranger hit a cow in the road and dashed against a fence.

According to the government, automakers would recall another 5 million vehicles equipped with faulty inflators made by Takata Corp of Japan.

Some of the recalls are due to the crash that killed Knight, while the rest are due to air bags failing in lab tests.

Other automakers are expected to announce more recalls soon with no end in sight to the  Takata inflator mess, which now extended to 14 auto and truck makers and totaled around 24 million vehicles. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of recalls is likely to grow further.

The chemical ammonium nitrate used in Takata airbags to cause a small explosion is said to be the cause of the problem. In the normal course the chemical creates gas and inflates air bags in a crash. However,  when it deteriorates over time on exposure to high heat and humidity it burns too fast, blowing apart a metal canister designed to contain the explosion.

Meanwhile, in a worrying development, the air-bag explosion issue had spread to India, with the death of the driver of a 2007 Honda Civic.

According to Honda Motor Co, a 2007 Honda Civic was travelling at high speed in India last April when it rolled over and crashed, resulting in the driver's death.

Honda spokesman Ben Nakamura said, Honda came to know of the accident three months later and investigations had shown that the air bag made by Takata had deployed and ruptured, though the cause of death had not been determined.