Toyota, Mazda, BMW, Lexus, Subaru: Takata airbag recall sparks class action

A CLASS action has been launched against the nation’s biggest car manufacturers over their role in the “outrageous” defective Takata airbag scandal.

A CLASS action has been launched against the nation’s biggest car manufacturers over their role in the defective Takata airbag scandal.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan announced it will be filing an open class action in Australia against car manufacturers including Toyota, Honda, and Mazda.

The class action will be filed in the Federal Court of Australia and will allege that the car manufacturers are in breach of a number of provisions under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

Damian Scattini, a Partner at Quinn Emanuel said it was “outrageous and almost inconceivable that there are over one million cars on Australian roads contain a so called safety product that could explode with lethal force at any time.

”People who are driving these cars need to enforce their consumer rights before there are any more tragedies,” he said.

The class action comes after Toyota and Lexus admitted to refitting cars in Australia with the same brand of potentially faulty airbags at the centre of a massive global safety recall.

The competition watchdog launched an investigation after consumer group Choice warned Australian drivers they could be sitting behind the wheel of “ticking time bombs” because several car makers had refitted vehicles with Takata airbags, despite links to 18 deaths worldwide.

The dodgy Takata airbags, which can explode and launch metal shards when deployed, have also been linked to at least 180 injuries.

Toyota and Lexus on Monday confirmed they used Takata airbags as temporary replacements in some cases and would have to again refit those vehicles.

“This action provided safety for a number of years, however, due to exposure to the environment over time, these airbags will need to be replaced again,” they said.

The ACCC is now investigating the Takata airbag recall. Picture: Choice

Choice said Mazda, Lexus, BMW and Subaru had also refitted recalled vehicles with Takata airbags as a temporary measure following a global recall of the devices that began in 2009.

However, rivals Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi, which also had vehicles affected by the recall, declined to tell Choice about their replacement airbags.

The consumer advocacy group had also found the companies have failed to inform consumers of the ongoing risk of death or injury.

A Honda spokesman told AAP the car maker had “not refitted Takata inflators ‘like for like’ on Honda vehicles”.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims urged drivers to check if their vehicle was subject to the Takata recall and demanded car makers tell consumers what replacements they were installing.

The ACCC is also seeking information from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, which is monitoring the recall, about what car makers are required to tell consumers about replacement products.

“We would have very serious concerns if manufacturers were found to be misleading consumers about their car’s safety in breach of their obligations under consumer law,” Mr Sims said.

Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey slammed the manufacturers for fitting faulty airbags in the first place, warning drivers were the ones being put at risk.

“With 2.3 million vehicles in Australia requiring their potentially lethal Takata airbags to be replaced, it’s clear the car companies are under pressure to fulfil their obligations under Australian consumer law,” he said.

“However, refitting vehicles with the same dangerous airbags still leaves people driving ticking time-bombs.”

The number of affected vehicles and models.

About 100 million vehicles globally have been recalled amid safety concerns relating to dodgy Takata airbags, which can explode and launch metal shards that can puncture people’s eyes, face, neck, and chest.

More than 2.3 million vehicles in Australia were subject to the recall, with 850,000 already having had their airbags replaced.

Mr Godfrey said while car companies were under pressure to replace the airbags, “refitting vehicles with the same dangerous airbags still leaves people driving ticking time bombs”.

Choice also said it was concerning some consumers faced a six month wait before the situation was fixed.

It said consumers could expect their faulty airbags to be replaced in a reasonable amount of time and they could lodge a complaint with the Department of Fair Trade if this didn’t occur.

If you have one of these makes and models, Choice suggests you take action now. Picture: Choice

A 58-year-old man who died in a crash in Sydney last Friday is suspected of being the 18th person globally to have lost their life as a result of a dodgy Takata airbag after he was struck in the neck by a small fragment. A 21-year-old Darwin woman also suffered serious injuries when a faulty Takata airbag didn’t deploy properly in April.

Choice wants laws to ensure companies involved in product recalls use safe replacements, and fines for those that don’t.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the motoring group welcomed the ACCC’s investigation and urged car makers to be more proactive in addressing concerns about product recalls.

“It’s crucial people have confidence in safety measures like airbags because they can save lives,” he said.

The Takata airbag recall in Australia is more than 21 times bigger than that of the VW “Dieselgate” debacle.

Choice also found only 31 per cent of 2.3 million affected vehicles have had their potentially lethal airbags replaced as of April this year.

In a brief statement on its website, Takata apologised over the widespread concern and inconvenience caused as a result of its inflators and urged drivers to check if their vehicles were under recall.

It said the recall is not expected to be completed until the end of 2019, the ABC reported.

Choice insisted the recall should serve as a wake-up call to the government about the flaws in product safety systems.

DEADLY WARNING

Police reports reveal how these airbags have violently exploded, sending metal shards, shrapnel and/or foreign material into the car.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has confirmed it is investigating the Takata airbag recall.

It said it was urgently seeking information from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development (DIRD) and car manufacturers regarding the airbags, which are “at the centre of the largest vehicle recall in history”.

More than 2.3 million vehicles across the country have become subject to the recall of airbags made by the Japanese manufacturer whose airbags are fitting in cars sold in Australia, including Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Lexus, Jeep, Nissan, Chrysler, and Dodge.

Dozens of Takata airbags have exploded worldwide. Picture: Paul Sancya/AP

ACCC Chairman Rod Sims warned consumers to act immediately.

“Do not ignore or delay responding to a letter from your car’s manufacturer or retailer asking you to have your car’s airbag replaced,” he said.

“The airbags degrade over time and can become lethal by misdeploying and firing metal shards at the car’s occupants.”

The ACCC is urging all drivers to check if their car’s airbag is has been recalled by visiting productsafety.gov.au.

In a statement given to the ABC, Toyota confirmed it had used Takata products as replacement parts in some cases.

“This action provided safety for a number of years, however due to exposure to the environment over time, these airbags will need to be replaced again,” it said.

“Toyota has a rectification process in place for impacted customers.”

However just two days ago, Ford announced it was fighting the latest expansion of the Takata airbag inflator recall, the Associated Press reported.

It had filed documents with the US government adding 2.7 million vehicles to the recall from Ford, Nissan and Mazda.

All have inflators with a drying agent that previously were thought to be safe.

But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that Takata tests showed the inflator propellant can degrade and will pose a safety risk if the inflators aren’t replaced.

While Nissan agreed to recall about 515,000 Versa cars, Ford and Mazda filed petitions to avoid a recall.

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