One of the world’s largest car safety recalls is on, after a Japanese manufacturer found that some of its airbags have a tendency to spray metal shrapnel when deployed. The recall has now hit Australia, with almost 500,000 cars from various manufacturers already affected.
The airbags come out of Japanese parts manufacturer, Takata. The airbag fault means that they have the potential to spray deadly metal shrapnel when deployed in a crash. The dangerous deployment risk is the result of moisture getting into the airbag module during the manufacturing process.
Cars from Toyota, Chrysler, Honda and Nissan are all currently being recalled in Australia.
Here are the cars affected at the time of writing:
• Chrysler 300C sedan 2006 to 2007
• Honda Jazz 2004 to 2009
• Honda Accord Euro 2004 to 2007
• Honda CR-V 2002 to 2008
• Honda Civic 2004 to 2005
• Nissan N16 Pulsar
• Nissan D22 Navara
• Nissan Y61 Patrol
• Nissan T30 X-TRAIL
• Nissan A33 Maxima
• Toyota Echo 2003 to 2005
• Toyota RAV4 2003 to 2005
• Toyota Corolla 2003 to 2007
• Toyota Yaris 2005 to 2007
• Toyota Avensis 2003 to 2007
Updates are being posted on the Australian Government’s recalls page.
34 million vehicles are being recalled worldwide; up from 14 million when the recall kicked off in the US in December 2014. It was reported at the time that at least 139 people had been injured, while others had died as a result of the shrapnel-bomb airbags.