Aug
2017

Malfunctioning airbags: NZTA’s urge to owners after 300,000 vehicles recalled

The NZ Transport Agency is urging the owners of vehicles affected by the global Takata airbag recall to have checks carried out to check their front passenger airbags aren’t disabled.

The agency recently discovered that in two thousand fifteen some manufacturers in Japan began suggesting customers the option of disabling front passenger airbags, in response to public concerns in Japan about wait times for replacement airbags as part of the global recall.

Up to 300,000 vehicles in Fresh Zealand have been recalled because of malfunctioning airbags that either do not inflate or fire out lumps of metal when inflated in an accident – injuring people and even causing death.

The modifications carried out on vehicles in Japan involved disconnecting the airbag and placing an extra component into the vehicle’s electronics, resulting in the car’s self-diagnostic systems registering the disabled airbag as functional.

Due to the way these modifications were done in Japan, invasive visual checks are the only way of determining with certainty if the airbags have been disabled, as the vehicle’s dashboard warning lights will not identify the disabled airbags.

Since becoming aware of the issue the Transport Agency has urgently amended the entry certification inspection requirements for used imported vehicles from Japan. From tomorrow these vehicles will be required to fall under a visual check of the airbag connection, which in most cases will involve physically dismantling part of the vehicle to view the airbag connection.

This morning owners of cars potentially affected by the fault airbags were being told to contact their local dealer or manufacturer to see if their car was affected.

The list that emerges on the government recall website includes BMW, Chrysler, Daihatsu, GM, Ferrari, Ford, Honda Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Mercedes-Benz.

To date there have been no injuries reported in Fresh Zealand as a result of faulty airbags exploding.

Car manufacturers this morning told the Herald they were directly contacting affected car owners but it would take months to fix the problem because there was a shortage of replacement airbags.

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“This is the largest recall in history and we simply don’t have enough parts,” said Mitsubishi head of sales and marketing Daniel Cook.

He said 12,171 Mitsubishi vehicles had been identified in the global recall. They included Lancer (2003-2008), Triton (2006-2014), i-Car (2008-2010) and Pajeros and Delica D5.

About eight thousand vehicles with faulty airbags were expected to be substituted this year with the remainder ended by June next year.

Toyota NZ said 82,000 vehicles were caught up in the global recall. Based on the limited supply it was estimated to take up to two years to substitute all airbags in affected vehicles.

At this stage 12,879 car owners had been advised that replacement airbags were available.

Toyota would be providing an update to remaining affected customers over the next three weeks.

Their main models affected are fresh and imported Yaris, Corolla and RAV4, and the imported Ipsum.

There are other models, twenty one including the four mentioned, affected in smaller numbers.

Drivers can head to toyota.co.nz/recall to pack out a form and see if their car is subject to the recall.

BMW’s Fresh Zealand spokesman Paul Sherley said about three thousand five hundred Fresh Zealand fresh vehicles were affected and nine thousand three hundred used-imported vehicles.

“All owners of Fresh Zealand-new vehicles have been contacted, and the process to contact the owners of used-imports is also under way,” he said.

“Over two thirds of the Fresh Zealand-new cars have had the recall work ended to date.”

All owners of Fresh Zealand-new cars have been contacted and BMW are working on contacting the owners of used-imported vehicles.

“The decision of exactly when to have the recall work carried out is indeed up to the customer,” Sherley said.

No fresh Fords sold in Fresh Zealand are involved in the recall, but owners of imported Fords can head to the safety recalls section of the Ford website to see if their vehicle is being recalled.

Ferrari spokeswoman Catherine Rodwell said the models affected include all Ferrari vehicles manufactured commencing from two thousand eight with regard to Europe, and from two thousand nine with regard to the US and all other countries, except for the Ferrari six hundred twelve Scaglietti, Ferrari 599, Ferrari F430 – all versions- and LaFerrari model vehicles.

Mazda Fresh Zealand service campaign manager for service and warranty Jacob Moolman said the affected cars sold in Fresh Zealand were the M6 from 2002-07, the RX8 from 2003-2012, the Mazda two Demio from 2007-2014, Mazda T series from 2004-2010, the B series from 2004-2011, and the E series from 2004-2016.

Honda NZ national service manager Bryan Davis said their affected models were Accord, Civic, CRV, Jazz, Legend, Odyssey, Insight, and MDX.

The years were varied. Davis encouraged anyone with an affected model to head to the Honda website, click on service, and inject their vehicle’s details in the recalls section to find out if their car needed a replacement airbag.

Motor Industry Association head David Crawford told the Herald last night that there had been a number of accidents overseas in which people had been injured or killed because of the faulty airbags, manufactured by Japanese company Takata.

The Government publishes recall information on its recalls.govt.nz website, which is run by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the NZ Transport Agency, among others.

The website had been down since last night but was now running again, with a warning that powerful online traffic might have impacts.

A spokeswoman originally said the website was subject to scheduled maintenance.

However, she later confirmed the unexpected volume of car owners seeking information shocked the system.

The Herald has received a stable stream of emails from readers worried about whether their vehicles have been affected.

A total list of makes, models and years affected is being sought.

The faulty airbags had meant that in an accident, they had either failed to inflate fully or fired out bits of metal when inflated.

Crawford said it was significant to note that there had been no deaths or injuries related to the airbags in Fresh Zealand or Australia.

“The airbag inflators – there have been less than two hundred that have been faulty in sixty million vehicles, so it’s a very low percentage.

“The best advice that we can give is that the cars are safe to proceed to drive. But they’re not totally free from risk.

“So the manufacturers have said because a few have been faulty and we can’t tell which ones are faulty and which ones are not, then all of them get substituted.

“And because it affects so many vehicles, it’s going to take a little while, logistically, to work through.”

Crawford said the faulty airbags had been reported in countries and places which were very hot and humid for long months – meaning there appeared to be an association with fever and something going wrong with the Takata airbags.

Editor of car review website dogandlemon.com Clive Matthew-Wilson said he was disturbed by the casual attitude from the Government and broader industry over the recall.

“These are airbags that may explode like a forearm grenade in a collision, firing chunks of jagged metal at you like a bullet.”

He said parts of the country were warm and humid while only a few faulty airbags had been proven to cause deaths, it was very likely that a number of fatalities caused by these faulty airbags have gone undetected.

“If we were talking about contaminated food or medicine that might cause deaths or injuries, there would be a national outcry, but somehow deadly airbags don’t seem to be a high priority for either the Government or the car industry. I find this utterly disturbing,” said Matthew-Wilson.

He was also worried affected manufacturers informed authorities on a voluntary basis.

Malfunctioning airbags: NZTA s urge to owners after 300, zero vehicles recalled – NZ Herald

Malfunctioning airbags: NZTA’s urge to owners after 300,000 vehicles recalled

The NZ Transport Agency is urging the owners of vehicles affected by the global Takata airbag recall to have checks carried out to check their front passenger airbags aren’t disabled.

Up to 300,000 vehicles in Fresh Zealand have been recalled because of malfunctioning airbags that either do not inflate or fire out chunks of metal when inflated in an accident – injuring people and even causing death.

This morning owners of cars potentially affected by the fault airbags were being told to contact their local dealer or manufacturer to see if their car was affected.

The list that shows up on the government recall website includes BMW, Chrysler, Daihatsu, GM, Ferrari, Ford, Honda Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Mercedes-Benz.