More than 270,000 cars in Victoria still carrying defective Takata airbags

Thousands of defective Takata airbags are still on Victorian roads, new figures obtained by the Herald Sun show, as other states clamp down on motorists who refuse to remove the mobile death traps.

Thousands of defective Takata airbags are still on Victorian roads as other states clamp down on motorists who refuse to remove the mobile death traps.

New figures obtained by the Herald Sun show there are still more than 1200 cars fitted with deadly alpha airbags on our state’s roads that have a 50/50 chance of spraying shrapnel in a crash.

Another 273,268 cars are fitted with other defective models that must also be recalled over safety concerns.

MAKE NO MISTAKE, THESE AIRBAGS CAN KILL

CAMPAIGN AIMS TO FIND 1.6 MILLION CARS

TAKATA AIRBAG RECALL EXPLAINED

Victoria has the nation’s second-highest number of cars with the dangerous safety flaw but has not matched states such as Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia where governments are moving to cancel registrations and licences for those who do not replace them.

It is believed one-quarter of all Australian cars were affected by the shock recall.

A recalled Takata airbag inflator. Picture: Reuters

An ACCC spokeswoman said the commission was working with states and territories on ways to protect the community from the safety flaw.

“One of these initiatives is a registration sanction for ­vehicles fitted with a faulty Takata alpha airbag, and where the ­vehicle owner fails to respond to multiple recall notices from the manufacturer and local authorities to have their airbag replaced,” she said.

“We welcomed announcements from jurisdictions who have adopted these sanctions and continue to work closely with our counterparts around the country.

“The ACCC does not have the authority to impose registration sanctions because it is a local regulation, and each jurisdiction will respond to the issue individually.”

RACV vehicle engineering manager Michael Case said motorists with the dangerous alpha airbags should not drive their cars and call their dealerships immediately.

“We encourage everyone to check if their vehicle has one of the defective Takata airbags as the recall affects more than 60 models from multiple manufacturers,” he said.

“It is important for everyone to know that replacing ­affected airbags is free of charge, even if you bought the car second-hand.”

In total, 7816 cars across Australia are still fitted with alpha inflators and 912,000 ­vehicles are yet to have their Takata equipment replaced.

An Andrews Government spokeswoman said: “We continue to work closely with the ACCC, VicRoads and our colleagues from other states and territories to assist vehicle manufacturers to contact owners of all affected vehicles.”

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