More than 3.5m Takata airbags replaced

THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has urged owners of 256,000 vehicles still affected by the Takata airbag crisis to take action as it releases the latest progress figures, which show that around 3.56 million defective airbags have now been replaced under the compulsory recall.

Although a quarter of a million vehicles containing around 300,000 potentially deadly airbags are still in circulation on Australia’s roads, progress in processing the number of outstanding vehicles since the ACCC’s last update has been promising.

Figures to June 30 last year showed 600,000 airbags were yet to be replaced, a figure that has halved in the intervening six months to the end of December 2019. The completion rate now stands at 86.7 per cent.

As reported, almost 68,000 Australian vehicles had their airbags replaced in October alone.

However, 11,196 airbags deemed critical remain outstanding in Australia, comprising 2511 ‘Alpha’ and 8585 ‘non-Alpha’ varieties that both pose the highest level of risk of incurring injury or death if deployed.

ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard urged owners of vehicles listed as critical to not use them.

“If your vehicle is listed as critical, please do not drive it. Contact your dealer to arrange for your vehicle to be towed to the place of repair so you do not have to drive it,” she said.

Globally, 29 deaths and more than 320 serious injuries have been attributed to defective Takata airbags, including in Australia.

“There is a risk these airbags may misdeploy, even in a minor accident, and send sharp metal fragments into the vehicle at high speed, causing serious injury or death to its occupants,” said Ms Rickard.

“These faulty airbags could be deadly, and if your vehicle is under active recall, you should act now to arrange for a free replacement.”

The ACCC figures exclude 246,768 airbag inflators (6.0 per cent of the total) that were in 206,840 vehicles that were identified as “unrepairable”. These include insurance write-offs, those that have been scrapped or stolen, or modified in ways that precludes them from airbag replacement.

In addition to the compulsory Takata airbag recall, a number of vehicle manufacturers have issued voluntary recalls for certain vehicles manufactured between 1996 and 2000 that may have a different type of potentially faulty Takata airbag installed that use a propellant known as NADI 5-AT.

The ismyairbagsafe.com.au website and ACCC productsafety.gov.au website provide resources for consumers to check the status of their vehicle’s airbags and additional information about the recall.