The global recall of Takata airbags has been one of the biggest scandals in car production history.
The defective airbags are in 60 makes of cars sold in Australia, including Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Lexus, Jeep, Nissan and Chrysler.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is urging all drivers to check if their car’s airbag has been recalled by visiting their Product Safety Australia website. https://www.productsafety.gov.au/
“Do not ignore or delay responding to a letter from your car’s manufacturer or retailer asking you to have your car’s airbag replaced. The airbags degrade over time and can become lethal by misdeploying and firing metal shards at the car’s occupants,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
So far there have been over 180 Takata related incidents recorded around the world, with one NSW man being killed in July when his airbag failed to work during an accident. A woman in the Northern Territory also suffered severe injuries from her airbag after a crash in April.
In Australia, 850,000 cars have already had their airbags replaced, which means over two thirds of vehicles on the recall list still have to have the issue fixed.
“Our advice to consumers is not to panic, but to visit the Product Safety Australia website to see if their car is affected by the recall and if it is, to contact their car’s manufacturer immediately,” urged Sims.
“If consumers have already had their airbag replaced, they should contact their manufacturer for advice as to what kind of airbag it was replaced with and how long it is expected to last,” Sims said.
Finally don’t make any attempt to disable your airbags in the meantime. It’s dangerous to do and could leave you vulnerable to serious injury if you were involved in a crash.
