@phb I think there would be a few who could do so eg repair shops that deal with airbag replacement such as after a crash, certainly dealers, perhaps motoring organisations that have car inspection services such as RACQ, NRMA. Specialist mechanics that deal with particular brands could also be a good point of contact.
I am not sure who would have a list of serial numbers that would be easily searched, and it certainly isnât one that you would think car manufacturers have been using it seems or I am sure we would have been more effectively warned by now of all the cars that have been affected.
I think it might be needed that when asking for a check that a person might need to request that the inspection is physical rather than the service person just checking a tech bulletin. Even then would you be assured they had and the cost of that extra work might be prohibitive (perhaps a check that needs to be done as part of the RWC/Safety Certificate process)?? You would have to think that defective bag type would render the vehicle incapable of being considered a pass for RWC purposes and thus not road registerable.
I donât disagree that they can open up a dash and have a look, but if they donât have access to specific industry information or know the serial number of the airbags affected, they wonât be able to help much.
It appears from also doing a google that the recall is based on the year/time of manufacturer and the model of vehicle the airbags were fitted toâŚwhich is a very cumbersome way of doing things as it is a generic recall (models and date of manufacture linked to vehicle VINs) rather than a airbag specific recall (based on serial numbers). Maybe the more generic approach is taken as it is less disruptive to the consumer as a dashboard would need to be pulled apart to see if the airbag SN is on a defective listâŚSN or individual airbags are hard to find/determine easily by the consumer
Unless the method of identifying defective airbags change, it is unlikely that anyone other than those using the technical service bulletins from the manufacturers will be able to identify defective airbags.
It would be interesting to know if a serial number list exists.
I also wonder of the replacement airbags look like the defective ones. This would make the identification of defective airbags even harder unless the replacement airbags are somehow identified as being a non-defective replacement.
There will always be a âwhat ifâ and âhow to doâ so on but the point I thought I made was that as more vehicles literally dribble onto the recall list perhaps the only reliable way to ascertain if a used vehicle has one is inspection, not relying on lists that continually get updated and added to. If there is documentation a Takata airbag is replaced all should be fine, but otherwise it keeps getting closer to Rafferty roulette.
I checked with the manufacturer of my shopping trolley the other day - VW - enter the VIN and apparently it is all ok, my airbag is tickety-boo. How often do I need to check though? Itâs a 2003 and nearly everything they made around that time did open-face surgery ⌠Iâm sure Iâll get the gong shortly ⌠The way this has been managed youâd almost think the drivers were big business and government âŚ
Complacency could be deadly for the drivers and passengers of about 734,000 vehicles still harbouring faulty Takata airbags in Australia. Around 2.1 million vehicles â more than two-thirds of those subject to the recall â have been fitted with replacement airbags, while 192,000 vehicles have been identified by manufacturers as unfixable due to being exported, scrapped, stolen, modified, written off or unregistered for more than two years in a row.
This leaves almost a quarter of recall-affected vehicles on our roads, 12,000 of which have been identified as critically needing repair. Almost 9000 of those contain alpha airbags â the most dangerous kind â which, if triggered, have up to 50% chance of misdeployment. âThese cars pose a serious and heightened safety risk and should not be driven,â says ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard.
You can visit ismyairbagsafe.com.au to check if your vehicle is subject to the recall, or keep an eye on our recalls category. âIt only takes thirty seconds and can give consumers piece of mind,â Rickard says. âIt might save you or your family from being seriously injured, or worse.â The regulator is urging motorists who have received recall notifications from their car manufacturer to arrange for a replacement immediately. Replacements are free and are being installed according to their level of risk. Manufacturers have to complete the mandatory recall of all defective Takata airbags by the end of 2020.
In the article it states Honda sent 5 letters but the family only received 2, we had the same amount received as the Ngo family did ie 2 only. The second one I posted on this site in Aug 2017 (Takata airbags recall replacements and buying affected used vehicles) which was the only one with the drastic warning.
The following vehicles have been issued with a critical recall notice:
_ Critical vehicles
Holden â 1,843 vehicles â 2010 Holden Cruze
Honda â 6,043 vehicles â Honda City MY2012, CR-V MY 2011, Insight MY2012-2013, Jazz MY2012-2014 & Jazz Hybrid MY2012-2013, Honda Civic MY2006-2011, Jazz Hybrid MY2012 and Legend MY2007-2012, Honda Accord MY2001-2007 and Honda MDX MY2003-2006
Toyota â 582 vehicles â 2003 â 2005 Toyota Echo and Rav4
BMW â 7,909 vehicles â BMW 5 Series (E39) MY2002-2003, BMW 3 Series (E46) MY2001-2006 & BMW X5 (E53) MY2003
As at 31 August 2019 around 3.36 million airbags (82.4% of total airbags supplied) have now been replaced in 2.41 million vehicles (some vehicles have a driver and passenger airbag).
There remains around 483,071 airbags in 425,971 vehicles still subject to the recall._
Maybe they live with no internet, donât know their vehicle is in the list because they canât read, have it down the backyard rusting quietly, or have wrecked it for parts but told no one. What I mean is that there may be many reasons why they donât, even though most of us do/would know.
Perhaps there needs to be a check to see what VINâs on the recall lists are currently registered and get the state transport departments to contact the registered owners to say that their registration will be suspended or cancelled in the next 7 or 30 days if they are not rectified.
Any VINâs not currently registered could be placed on an alert list for action if anyone tries to register them.
If the steering wheel and or column was removed from a vehicle and placed in another they may not link the faulty airbag issue to the vehicle. No VIN that connects the faulty bag to the vehicle which had the airbag replaced prior but the wheel has now been replaced by a faulty one. Not likely but possible. Replace the front dash and again a similar issue, likelihood again similar. If they come from vehicles with seat or side intrusion airbags it could be a similar issue if secondhand parts have been used to replace seats and doors.
I just noticed this link in a new article on Nine.com.au.
Unfortunately, it appears not to cover vehicles which were in the recalls but have been rectified as I checked our daughterâs car which has both airbags replaced but the site merely advises that it may be subject to a recall.
Our vehicle, which was not in the recalls, does display as ânot affectedâ.
Have they been replaced by Takata bags? There were so many affected that new Takata bags were inserted to replace the really bad ones and those cars will be in future subject to another recall to replace the bags with a new one. You will need to check if that is the case. And keep checking as there are more vehicles being added.
I just double-checked our daughterâs 2007 MY2008 Honda CRV using the link to the list on the Product Safety website.
It is extremely strange that apart from the very first VIN on the Excel list, there are large numbers of consecutive VINâs, eg, #2 to # 57 are all consecutive.
Perhaps anyone else who has had a Takata recall can check their VIN just to be safe, and it they find lots of consecutive VINâs, let the Community know.
The 2nd VIN list for the CRVs which I would assume is the one with your daughters car type & year in it, there is in the spreadsheet a repetition of year blocks throughout eg 2007 then 2008 then 2009 up to 2011 and then repeating the same year order a few times. Sorting the year column (D) into a strict year order ie all 2007 then 2008 etc might allow an easier view as to whether you have a vehicle in the list. Or search for the specific VIN number.
All these lists need to be checked as each are different takata recalls, the final listing is for those cars that have already had takata for takata replacements and are now to be fitted with non takata bags but still worth checking.
Vehicles that have had a replacement Airbag fitted should have some identifiable notification in the vehicle so as the owner can have positive proof of Airbag security. Otherwise itâs only the manufacturers word that the modification has been carried out.By past publicised instances manufacturers are not the most reliable.
