After an Australian has been injured by a faulty Takata airbag, police are urging people to check if their car is the subject of a recall on the ACCC website, as the recall affects models from BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Jeep, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.
UPDATE 07 / 2017: Takata airbag kills 58-year-old man
Yes our 2005 Honda Jazz is affected by the recall.
Not yet. It has been about 3 years since they advised us it would need replacing but that it could take “some time” as there were so many they had to re-fit.
I believe the 2003 X-Trail my dad & I have (though he drives it, I can’t/don’t) already had its airbags checked and the problematic one replaced back in like early 2014 (done via the Nissan Wagga branch), when we got notified of it at the time.
Here’s the latest on the airbag recall, news on the ACCC’s response to Takata and manufacturers and an FAQ in case you have any questions about the recall.
This is embedded in @BrendanMays Choice link, but some readers might not perservere through it. If one has a vehicle subject to the recall and had your airbags replaced, be sure your Takata airbag was not replaced with another faulty Takata.
Our Honda Jazz is waiting on the airbags to get to the dealer. Both the driver and passenger airbags need replacement. Honda advised it would be about 7 days until the dealer had them. It has been about 3 years since we were informed of the passenger one and about 12 months for the driver one.
A video of an airbag inflator exploding
There is a news item on LifeChoices about the recall and a Class Action being run by Lawyers:
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/news/airbag-crisis--are-you-due-a-refund?
The Lawyers Home page for Sydney is:
http://www.quinnemanuel.com/offices/sydney/
and their contact information is:
Quinn Emanuel Trial Lawyers
Level 15
111 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Australia
Ph +61 2 9146 3500
Fax +61 2 9146 3600
I had checked all the family members cars to see if any were the list when it was originally announced and have continued to monitor the announcements. Fortunately none of the 10 family cars were affected.
My personal view is if a family member’s car was on the list we would simply park it up until it was replaced and get around the inconvenience, by sharing cars in the family group rather than risk the consequences of driving around with a potential lethal bomb in front of our face.
There are some risks in life you can control and others you cannot this is definitely one risk you can control.
Not everyone can swap vehicles. Some people only have one car and live outside a public transport system, so yes they could stop using their vehicle but would have no alternative transport means.
The car companies have know of this safety issue for years and yet in some cases the airbags were fitted in cars up into 2014 or even 2016. The companies should be offering alternative cars to affected customers or paying for rentals until the issue is fixed.
Whilst I agree the manufacturers have dragged the chain and the governments response has been shabby, but I live rural too and we don’t have public transport options but I figure you have to weigh up the risk and no car is worth what is my families and my life is worth?
Our Subaru Outback has had the “faulty” air bags replaced and we have been assured by the dealer that these are a new brand and not just the same Takata replacement. He did say that the media was slightly behind the times, in that if the faulty airbags were replaced with exactly the same model, that owner would get another notification to replace the airbag again within 2 years. Apparently it takes 6 years for the airbag corrosion to become dangerous, and the corrosion is more prevalent in high humidity areas. The delay has been caused by the number of airbags that needed replacing as there were not enough replacements available.
That would be more understandable if the bags had not continued to be placed in new vehicles AFTER they were aware of the problem, but manufacturers continued in some cases fitting these types of airbags up until sometime in 2016. The 6 years is only the maximum time frame for them to become dangerous and it can occur sooner.
EDIT: It is now known that Takata airbags that will be subject to recall have been fitted in some new vehicles into 2018. Even worse that the 2016 we originally were aware of.
Sorry, but my impression was that 6 years was the minimum time that corrosion took place in high humidity coastal locations. I must have been misled!
pH
Honda is obviously getting concerned now about the potential for injury, death, and compensation claims. They have just sent a letter out about the airbag in our car:
We actually had ours done over a week ago that they had arranged so their records are obviously a little disorganised. This took over 3 years to get it fixed…
My 2009 Subaru Impreza is booked for airbag replacement on 2 Nov. Living rurally my partner and I will share his car, mightily inconvenient but as others say not worth the risk. Subaru dealership say that Subaru have not told them which airbag will be the replacement!? I will be checking prior to 2 Nov because I don’t want the faulty replacement! I also got the humidity argument but that doesn’t cut it for me suggesting my car will be fine, which is nearly 9 yrs old and therefore I would suggest at the critical end for explosion
That letter is much more direct than other Honda letters I’ve seen! Thanks for sharing, @grahroll
The latest on the ongoing Takata airbag debacle - Mazda fails to warn consumers/government about the higher risk alpha inflators, contained in the Mazda 6, RX-8 and BT50 sold between the years of 2002 and 2006.
May I ask is there a recall notice on these airbags ?
