More brands caught up in Takata recall

THE global recall of Takata faulty airbag inflators continues to snowball, with at least two more car-makers now affected on Australian turf.

Joining Japanese brands Honda, Nissan and Toyota in the latest round of recalls is Chrysler and Subaru, adding at least 38,000 vehicles to the expanding list of vehicles that will require replacement parts in Australia.

More than 430,000 vehicles are now subject to the recall in Australia, from an ever-increasing global total of more than 53 million.

Chrysler is reporting 4497 of its 300 large sedans built between 2005 and 2007 will need to have inflators replaced, but says a strategy is already in place to ensure the units are replaced with minimal delay.

With new airbag units on their way to Australia via a combination of air and sea freight, the company says 80 per cent of the vehicles will have been recalled within the next four weeks, with the remainder dealt with soon after.

In a statement, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia said the safety of its vehicles is paramount and owners of all impacted Chrysler 300s would be contacted as soon as possible.

“Customer safety is of the utmost priority to FCA Australia,” it read.

“Regardless of whether the customers in question purchased their vehicle new or used, we will be going to great lengths to obtain their information and encourage them to make an appointment with one of our dealers immediately.

“We simply cannot risk assuming a customer will read the news or check the government recalls website.”

Subaru has also announced it joins the list of manufacturers hit by the batch of potentially lethal airbag modules, with 33,548 Imprezas built between 2004 and 2007 requiring attention.

However, unlike Chrysler which has stock on its way to Australia, Subaru says it has to wait until next year for the replacement parts to be manufactured.

“Replacement parts are being prepared in Japan,” it said “Due to the volume of vehicles across multiple brands affected globally, it is currently estimated that sufficient parts to enable recall repairs will be available by early next year.

“At that stage, relevant customers will again be contacted regarding the repair procedure.”

It is possible Mazda will also announce some of its models are tied up in the local recall, but the Japanese car-maker told GoAuto via a statement that it was still in the process of establishing the affected regions, vehicles and build dates.

“In conjunction with Mazda Motor Corporation we are investigating the products and production periods of vehicles sold in Australia to determine if any vehicles are impacted,” it read.

“In the event a recall is required for any Australian vehicles, Mazda Australia will contact customers directly to outline the repair process.”

Like Mazda, Ford is also establishing if any local cars are fitted with potentially faulty parts, after some Blue Oval vehicles were identified as requiring replacements in the United States.

“Ford Motor Company takes the safety of our customers very seriously,” it said in a statement. “We are cooperating with NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) on this, as we always do. We are gathering additional information and will follow our process.”

Some BMW E36 3 Series models have been impacted since the Takata fault was first identified, but the company has since dealt with all of the affected cars, and has no further revisions to report.

In the US, some General Motors products have been affected, but GM Holden has confirmed to GoAuto that no Australian vehicles received inflators from the faulty batch, and while Mercedes-Benz had to recall a handful of its vehicles last year, no more have been affected since then.

The Takata fault relates to a pyrotechnic inflator which was incorrectly assembled, allowing the ingress of moisture under a certain set of circumstances including a high humidity environment.

Destabilisation of the propellant can be caused by the presence of water and when triggered a spike in internal pressure can rupture the metallic casing.

The resulting shrapnel has the potential to injure occupants of the vehicle.

No cases of injury have been reported in Australia and there is no danger of airbags deploying by themselves.

Impacted Subaru Impreza models

Model year	Number affected	From VIN #	To VIN #
2004	3728	021344	045216
2005	10264	024602	058988
2006	10154	024801	057412
2007	9402	034808	073605