Takata airbag recalls burst past 800K in Oz

THE number of vehicles impacted by the Takata airbag recall in Australia has shot past 800,000 with Toyota and its Lexus luxury subsidiary extending the list to include more examples of the Yaris and Avensis Verso models made from March 2007 to December 2008.

This is on top of the 181,000 other models the Japanese giant recalled in May, that included the Yaris’ Echo predecessor, earlier versions of the Avensis Verso, as well as the RAV4 and Corolla, all with build dates ranging from May 2003 to March 2007.

The latter date range also applies to the affected Lexus SC430 convertible.

Additionally, a number of privately imported vehicles are now also under recall for the same Takata airbag issue, with the 2007-2008 Chevrolet Silverado 2500/3500 Heavy Duty, 2007-2008 GMC Sierra 2500/3500 Heavy Duty, and 2007-2008 Ford Mustang and Ford GT Mustang all have been brought in by Queensland-based Performax International for right-hand-drive conversion and were available for sale from December 1, 2006 to December 31, 2008.

Other manufacturers include Nissan with 156,300 vehicles including N16 Pulsar, Y61 Patrol, D22 Navara, J31 Maxima and T30 X-Trail models built between January 2004 and March 2007, while Honda has 109,551 cars including the 2004-2007 Accord Euro, 2002 to 2008 CR-Vs, 2004/5 Civics, and some Jazz models made between 2004 and 2009.

Mazda has 70,000-plus including 2002-2009 Mazda6, RX-8, E-Series van, T-Series truck and B2500/B2600 Bravo utes from August 2002 to November 2007, Subaru counts 33,548 2004-2007 Imprezas, and Chrysler has 4497 2005-2007 300Cs. Some BMW and Mercedes models are also involved.

In the United States, where more than 30 million vehicles are affected, the eighth fatality has been attributed to a Takata airbag issue, as a result of an incident in the latter part of last year.

As the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's product recalls website puts it, the issue is that the “driver airbag inflator housing may rupture due to excessive internal pressure during normal airbag deployment events”, with the hazard being “an inflator rupture during airbag deployment events could result in metal fragments striking and potentially seriously injuring the vehicle occupants”.

Globally more than 53 million vehicles are now said to be involved. More recalls are expected to follow so watch this space.