The latest recall campaign affects Honda, Nissan and Toyota and will add 6.5-million vehicles to the 17-million already recalled by 10 manufacturers over concerns with airbag components.
The recalls began in 2008 when it was discovered that airbags manufactured by Takata contained inflators that could deploy with enough force to shatter metal and plastic parts, which could create shrapnel and potentially harm occupants.
To date no incidents have been reported in SA, although in the US six fatalities have been linked to the issue, as well as one in Malaysia. Those fatalities were all in Honda vehicles and it has had more than 14-million vehicles checked worldwide.
Takata is facing a number of lawsuits as well as criminal and regulatory investigations in the US.
At this stage only Nissan and Toyota have confirmed that vehicles in SA will be part of the recall campaign. Toyota will be the most affected, recalling 224,006 vehicles. These include Corolla, Run-X and Yaris models manufactured between 2002 and 2007, and Hilux, Fortuner and Rav4 models made between July 2003 and December 2005.
Toyota SA yesterday said its recall would commence once required components were available. Owners would then be contacted to take in their vehicles, with the repairs taking about two hours at no cost.
Nissan SA is instituting the same procedure, which will start next month as part of an expansion of its existing recall campaign. It will now include 17,495 Almera models produced from 2004 to 2007.
Nissan has already begun recalling vehicles in areas of the world that suffer from high humidity, which is one of the suspected reasons for the propellant in the airbag inflators becoming volatile. In these regions the affected components are being replaced automatically. In SA the company has advised that components will be tested at the dealership and replaced if necessary.
Honda is expanding its recall campaign in light of the latest concerns, which first surfaced in Japan last year. However, a spokesperson for Honda SA said the company could not confirm at this stage if any vehicles in SA would be affected and it was awaiting confirmation from head office.
Source: Business Day
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