WASHINGTON, D.C. -

Industry observers cheered this week’s move by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which announced it is calling for a national recall of vehicles with certain driver’s side frontal air bags made by Takata.

Regulators explained this decision is based on the agency’s evaluation of a recent driver’s side air bag failure in a vehicle outside the current regional recall area and its relationship to five previous driver’s side air bag ruptures, all of which are covered by existing regional recalls.

“By demanding this national recall, NHTSA has demonstrated once again that it will follow data and evidence to protect the lives of Americans on the road and to hold manufacturers accountable,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

NHTSA contacted Takata and the vehicle manufacturers this week to call for the national recall of these vehicles after evaluating a recent incident that involved a failure in a driver’s side air bag inflator outside an area of high absolute humidity.

Based on this new information, unless Takata and the manufacturers quickly agree to this recall, NHTSA insisted it will use the full extent of its statutory powers to ensure vehicles that use the same or similar air bag inflator are recalled.

As part of these efforts and its ongoing investigation into both the defect and the scope of the recalls, the agency also issued a General Order to Takata and all 10 of the vehicle manufacturers that use Takata air bag inflators — BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota — requiring each manufacturer to file, under oath, a detailed report and produce all related documents about completed, ongoing or planned testing of Takata inflators outside the current regional recall areas.

NHTSA also is demanding this information to compel Takata and the affected industry to be frank with not only NHTSA, but also the American public, as to what testing and additional steps they have done and plan to do to control and mitigate the risk associated with Takata’s defective inflators.

After hearing the regulator’s demands, Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer said, “This is a good move by NHTSA because it acknowledges the problem as a systemic design issue, not a climate issue.

“While high humidity may accelerate the process it's hard to believe there's no risk in dry climates, especially with more than one Takata-related fatality occurring outside the previous recall zones,” Brauer continued.

Fellow Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Eric Ibara took a similar stance on NHTSA’s demands.

“Based on what we have seen so far with the Takata airbags, it appears that NHTSA is doing the right thing in calling for these potentially defective airbags to be replaced,” Ibara said.

“Given the apparent lethal consequences to its failure, it would be tragic to see fatalities continue in the future,” Ibara added. “However, it will be a huge challenge for all manufacturers affected to get notices out to current owners and to stock enough replacement airbags to handle the volume of vehicles affected in a timely fashion.”

Additionally, NHTSA issued a Special Order to Takata, the second the agency has issued to the manufacturer regarding this defect, compelling it to provide, under oath, documents and detailed information on the propellant used in Takata’s inflators.

In recent days, officials indicated Takata has publicly conceded that it changed the chemical mix of its air bag inflator propellant in newly designed inflators.

As part of its ongoing investigation, NHTSA said it will analyze the information received to determine if the chemical composition of Takata’s propellant mix may be a cause and/or contributing factor in the air bag inflator ruptures.

“We now know that millions of vehicles must be recalled to address defective Takata air bags and our aggressive investigation is far from over,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman said. “We’re pushing Takata and all affected manufacturers to issue the recall and to ensure the recalls capture the full scope of the problems.”

In addition to the General Order and Special Order, NHTSA is issuing a Recall Acknowledgement Letter, a routine response to all Safety Recall Reports filed with the agency. The letter summarizes the details of the most recent report submitted by Takata regarding its defective passenger side air bag inflators and identifies the information gaps the agency is insisting Takata clarify to ensure it provides the full information required by law.

While NHTSA is not aware of either field incidents or test data suggesting that the problem affecting passenger-side air bags in the areas of persistently high humidity extends beyond those areas, officials from the agency emphasized they have been pushing the industry to perform testing to ensure that current recalls effectively cover vehicles with air bags that could be potentially affected by this defect.

“The information the agency receives from Takata and the manufacturers will provide further information and details needed to continue its investigation into this complex issue,” officials said.

Responses to the General Order and Special Order are due to NHTSA by Dec. 5.