Dept. of Transportation blasts agency for handling of airbag recall

WASHINGTON (KTRK) -- The Department of Transportation is now investigating the agency responsible for keeping drivers safe after a massive airbag recall.

The transportation department is slamming its own agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, calling the recall "not optimal" and promising this investigation into the airbags is far from over.

The defective airbags can explode and send shrapnel through the bag. More than 100 people have been injured.

The federal review comes after the NHTSA first got the numbers wrong, saying last Monday 4.7 million million bags needed to be replaced. The next day it was nearly 8 million bags.

Safety experts say a total of 20 million bags should be replaced.

The airbag issue is only the most recent black eye for the agency. An investigation by the New York Times in September showed the NHTSA had consistently been slow to identify problems, tentative to act and reluctant to use its full legal powers against companies.

Car owners to see if their vehicle is affected by going to NHTSA's Safercar.gov website.