NEW Takata Airbag Risk - December 2019

These faulty units are NOT captured under the current recall …

Consumers warned of new airbag safety risk

17 December 2019

The ACCC is warning Australian consumers about a new safety risk in using certain vehicles fitted with a different type of faulty Takata airbag. These airbags, which are fitted with a NADI 5-AT propellant, are not captured under the existing compulsory recall of Takata airbags.

There is a serious safety risk that these NADI airbags may misdeploy in an accident, which may cause metal fragments to propel out of the airbag at high speed, causing serious injuries or death to vehicle occupants. There is also a risk that these airbags may under-inflate.

Audi and BMW have already started voluntary recalls of affected vehicles, and the ACCC calls on other suppliers to take urgent action to address the safety risk to consumers.

About 78,000 vehicles manufactured by Audi, BMW, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Toyota between 1996 and 2000 and fitted with the faulty airbags with NADI 5-AT inflators were supplied in Australia. While it is expected that many of these vehicles will no longer be in use, a substantial number of affected vehicles are likely to be still registered and still in use.

Safety authorities in Australia have received reports of three incidents involving suspected misdeployments of these airbags in Australia. There has been a serious injury and a fatality in separate accidents involving BMW vehicles, and another serious injury resulting from an accident involving another vehicle.

Recognising the serious safety risk, BMW already commenced a voluntary recall of its affected vehicles, including offering hire cars and buying back vehicles, and recommending that consumers do not drive their vehicle. Audi also initiated a new voluntary recall of its affected vehicles yesterday.

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development, supported by the ACCC, has been in discussions with representatives of Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Toyota since November to finalise satisfactory terms of voluntary recalls by these suppliers.

The Department and the ACCC are continuing to negotiate with these suppliers to finalise all voluntary recalls as soon as possible.

Drivers of affected vehicles should be aware of the serious safety risk they face if they have an affected car and consider other transport options.

Check if your vehicle is affected by looking at the table below or via the Product Safety Australia website.

Drivers who have previously checked www.ismyairbagsafe.com.au to see if their airbag is affected by the compulsory recall of the different type of Takata airbag, should also check this new link.

If you have an affected vehicle:

  • check if your vehicle is under recall: BMW and Audi vehicles are now subject to recall, and you should respond to the recall urgently
  • if your vehicle is not yet under recall, contact your vehicle manufacturer to arrange to check if your car is affected
  • consider borrowing a car from family or friends if possible, or using alternative transport options

In addition, Audi, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Toyota have all agreed to consider providing urgent short term assistance for consumers who are experiencing significant hardship over the Christmas period as a result of this safety warning. Consumers who wish to seek this hardship assistance should contact the vehicle manufacturer’s head office (contact details below).

BMW owners can contact BMW to arrange for their vehicle to be towed for inspection.

Quotes attributable to ACCC Chair Rod Sims:

“Even though full details and appropriate remedies are still being worked out by the manufacturers we are issuing this warning now to urge people not to use their car if it is affected by this potentially deadly airbag.”

“We want everyone to have a happy and safe holiday period, and encourage people to consider alternative transport options if possible, rather than using vehicles fitted with these airbags.”

“We are continuing to support the department in its work to urgently negotiate recalls with vehicle suppliers to remove these vehicles from our roads and obtain an appropriate remedy for consumers.”

“The fastest way to deal with these issues is via a voluntary recall. A compulsory recall is a lengthy process but it will be considered if manufacturers do not take appropriate steps.”

“If you have concerns, please contact your vehicle manufacturer.”

Background:

  • Ongoing cooperation between Australian and US authorities resulted in the identification of misdeployment incidents in Australia. The successor company to Takata, Joyson Safety Systems (JSS), confirmed the safety risk in certain inflators supplied globally.
  • An equipment defect report was submitted to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on 3 December 2019 and recalls of affected vehicles are expected in the US early in 2020.
  • Immediately following the BMW recall in November 2019, the Department contacted all car manufacturers to determine which other vehicles in Australia may be affected.
  • The Department is currently negotiating voluntary recall notices with six suppliers, with assistance from the ACCC.

Vehicles that may be affected:

Make Model Years Contact details for consumers
Audi A6 4B/C5 MY1998-2000 Audi Takata Information Line –
A8 4D/D2 MY1998-2000 Ph. 1800 856 770
A4 8D/B5 MY1997-2000
TT 8N/1 MY1999-2000
Cabriolet 8G/B4 MY1998-1999
BMW E46 3 Series MY1997-2000 BMW Takata Hotline – Ph. 1800 243 675
Ford Courier MY1998-2000 Takata Recall Hotline – Ph. 1800 503 673
Honda Legend MY1996-2000 Honda Australia Recall Call Centre –
CR-V MY1997-2000 Ph. 1800 952 272 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am - 6pm AEDT)
Accord MY1997-1999
Mazda Eunos 800 MY1996-1999 Mazda Customer Support – Ph. 1800 034 411
customersupport@mazda.com.au
Mitsubishi NL Pajero MY1997-2000 Takata Hotline – Ph.1800 931 811
CE Lancer MY1997-2000 www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/customer-assistance/contact-us
WA Express MY1997-2000
CE Mirage MY1997-2000
WA Starwagon MY1997-2000
Suzuki Grand Vitara MY1998-2000 Customer Hotline – Ph.1800 777 088
www.suzuki.com.au/airbag_investigation
Toyota Starlet 3 door MY1997-1999 Toyota Australia Campaign Helpline –
Starlet 5 door MY1997-1999 Ph.1800 800 424 (Monday to Friday, 8am-7pm AEDT)
Paseo MY1997-1999
Celica MY1997-1999
RAV4 3 door MY1997-1999
RAV4 5 door MY1997-1999
Echo/Vitz MY1999
Release number:

244/19

ACCC Infocentre:

Use this form to make a general enquiry.

Media enquiries:

Media team - 1300 138 917

7 Likes

What a disgrace that this ACCC notice is not yet on their own Product Safety Australia website so only persons who happen to look at the ACCC homepage would be aware of it.

No wonder all the other recalls from all the other regulators take so long to eventually appear on the Product Safety Australia website.

Good job on spotting and posting it.

6 Likes

Indeed - it just keeps getting better - I wonder how many more manufacturers will be added to the list, and additional models (slowly) added …

I still check two of my vehicles on the recall website semi-regularly - I wouldn’t be surprised if they are listed one day …

4 Likes

Should we be asking of every airbag ever produced and installed what is the assured defect free lifetime?

Perhaps in the end all airbags have a use by date, at which point in their life they may be at risk of not operating correctly. Projectile risks excepted, is a delayed or incorrect operation, failure to inflate, etc also a high risk. While as a community we may accept or fail to notice a fault at a low incidence rate, EG failure to activate or inflate 1 in 100 incidents, would a 1 in 10 or 1 in 5 failure rate be acceptable?

To limit manufacturers liability and to keep the cost of new vehicles down, will replacement of airbag devices be added to the 100,000km or 10years maintenance schedule?

There are currently many items on vehicle maintenance schedules that are expensive, falling due typically between 100,000 and 200,000km, or at a fixed time. Takata may not be alone, just the first in line?

5 Likes

is interesting on the subject, specifically:

SRS airbag suppliers include Autoliv, Daicel, Takata , TRW and KSS which is Takata rebadged, formerly Breed, one of the pioneers in the field. The most of impact sensors of air bags are manufactured by Lanka Harness Company.
[sic]

and …

Inadvertent airbag deployment while the vehicle is being serviced can result in severe injury, and an improperly installed or defective airbag unit may not operate or perform as intended. Some countries impose restrictions on the sale, transport, handling, and service of airbags and system components. In Germany, airbags are regulated as harmful explosives; only mechanics with special training are allowed to service airbag systems.

Some automakers (such as Mercedes-Benz) call for the replacement of undeployed airbags after a certain period of time to ensure their reliability in an accident. One example is the 1992 S500, which has an expiry date sticker attached to the door pillar. Some Škoda vehicles indicate an expiry date of 14 years from the date of manufacture. In this case, replacement would be uneconomic as the car would have negligible value at 14 years old, far less than the cost of fitting new airbags. Volvo has stated that “airbags do not require replacement during the lifetime of the vehicle,” though this cannot be taken as a guarantee on the device.[110]

Some interesting points. What level of training is required of the people replacing the tens of thousands of units in this country alone …

So one does wonder about maintenance, but as you said, getting metal flung at the face at high speed isn’t ideal - and not a maintenance issue per se …

5 Likes

The article is now everywhere but on the Product Safety Australia website.

What a disgraceful joke.

5 Likes

Clearly this Government and it’s departments pull out all stops to look after consumers… NOT.

Prima Facie the interests of the vehicle industry comes before the interests of consumers.

5 Likes

A difference between the US and us is that in the US the air bag is a primary protection device while here it is supplementary. The implications are different. In practice the US versions are larger and ‘fire’ sooner and ‘harder’ than ours. We are expected to wear seat belts and only have an air bag fire in a relatively serious accident, as compared to how it goes in the US. Consequently over a long period if a bag does not fire and inflate we are probably going to come out better than the same scenario in the US where far fewer drivers wear seat belts, regardless of laws.

6 Likes

Is that an illustration of “you just can’t help stupid” or merely natural selection at work?

2 Likes

It is their states rights and individualist mentalities. Notice in a number of states enforcement is only secondary, eg if one is stopped for speeding or DUI etc they check you are wearing a seatbelt, otherwise no worries.

They demonstrate that regularly and have trumped the concept.

6 Likes

“You just can’t help stupid” applies in Australia too. No country has a monopoly on having some stupid individuals.

8 Likes

Interesting to say the least …

Toyota is offering to buy back vehicles or provide alternative transport options until the airbag is replaced. Toyota will arrange alternative transport options until the buy-back process or airbag replacement is completed.

2 Likes

I have just posted recalls for the following today under Recalls.

Mazda Australia Pty Ltd - Eunos 800 MY1996-1999 Recall

Suzuki Australia Pty Ltd - Suzuki Grand Vitara SQ625 2.5L V6 MY1998-1999 Recall

Toyota Motor Corporation - Toyota Celica, Paseo, RAV4 & Starlet MY1997-1999 Recall

I sincerely hope that the buy back prices are actually retail valuations and not the trade-in valuations thet insurance companies use for vehicles that are written off.

It is also disgraceful that spare parts are unavailacble for 3 manufacturers to date for vehicles which are only 10 to 12 years old.

4 Likes

More manufacturers have been surprised to learn the specific components their cars contained - and have issued ‘voluntary’ recalls …

Here is the site - probably best to check weekly …

3 Likes

The “Is my airbag safe” website is great as is Honda’s website.

I just checked our previous Honda MY2007 CRV and it advised that it was subject to the recall and provided a link to Honda.

Honda then advised that both recalls had been completed.

image

3 Likes