STELLANTIS: PARK OLDER MODELS DUE TO 3 TAKATA AIR BAG DEATHS

Stellantis and the U.S. government are warning owners of 276,000 older vehicles to stop driving them after Takata airbags apparently exploded in three more vehicles, killing the drivers.

The company, formerly Fiat Chrysler, is telling people to stop driving Dodge Magnum wagons, Dodge Challenger and Charger muscle cars and Chrysler 300 sedans from the 2005 through 2010 model years.

Stellantis says it confirmed the driver’s airbag inflators blew apart in two cases, killing two drivers. The company suspects an inflator rupture in another case that also killed a driver. All three deaths were in warm-weather U.S. states and happened in the past seven months in 2010 model-year vehicles, the company said.

The fatalities bring the death toll from exploding Takata airbags to at least 32 worldwide, including 23 in the United States.

Takata used ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate airbags in a crash. But the chemical can become more volatile over time when exposed to moisture in the air and repeated high temperatures. The explosion can rupture a metal canister and hurl shrapnel into the passenger compartment.

Most of the deaths and about 400 injuries have happened in U.S. states with warmer weather.