Airbag death triggers buybacks, recalls

A second death involving a Takata airbag in Australia has prompted Audi, BMW and Ford to buy vehicles back from customers as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Honda and Mazda prepare recalls.

Popular late 1990s models such as Toyota’s RAV4 are at the centre of new recalls.

The death of a BMW driver in September has triggered another recall of potentially deadly Takata airbags, along with widespread buybacks of affected vehicles.

About 78,000 cars built with different Takata “NADI 5-AT” airbags between 1996 and 2000 are expected to join more than three million vehicles already recalled.

The recall affects cars built by Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Toyota, including popular models such as the Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Lancer that are not subject to previous airbag recalls.

Some manufacturers say the cars are too old to have airbags replaced, prompting them to buy cars back from customers.

Mitsubishi could join Audi, BMW and Ford in buying old cars from customers instead of fixing them.

Owners who do not comply with buybacks could have their registrations cancelled as state authorities push to get Takata-afflicted vehicles off the road.

ACCC chair Rod Sims said people who own cars subject to impending recalls should not drive them.

“We are issuing this warning now to urge people not to use their car if it is affected by this potentially deadly airbag,” he said.

“We want everyone to have a happy and safe holiday period, and encourage people to consider alternative transport options if possible, rather than using vehicles fitted with these airbags.”

Audi and BMW have already issued recalls for about 16,000 cars with NADI 5-AT airbag inflators that can underinflate or rupture when triggered during a crash.

Ford and other brands are expected to launch formal recalls in the next few days.

The ACCC reported in November that recent suspected airbag misdeployments resulted in “a death and a serious injury” in Australia.

A fatal crash involving BMW’s E46-generation 3 Series led to widespread recalls.

News Corp understands the driver of a BMW 3 Series died following a crash near Canberra in September 2019.

The incident could represent the second Takata-related fatality in Australia following the death of Sydney man Huy Neng Ngo at the wheel of a Honda in July 2017.

Police said the BMW death of a 51-year-old man in Primrose Valley had been referred to the deputy state coroner.

BMW recalled 12,663 examples of the 3 Series following the fatal crash.

Nick Raman, BMW Australia spokesman, said the manufacturer is buying thousands of cars back from customers.

Audi released a statement saying it is taking a similar approach to almost 4000 cars as, “due to the age of the vehicles, replacement airbag inflators are not available”.

It said an independent third party would determine values for affected vehicles.

Audi says cars such as the 1999 TT Coupe are too old to be fixed.

The 1999 Audi TT coupe is one of the vehicles on Audi’s buyback list.

Sydney Audi enthusiast Tony Jovanov sought out an original Audi TT coupe for years before purchasing an example.

“I definitely don’t want my car bought back,” he said.

“I’m not willing to sell them my car – they need to fix it. Just buying the car back isn’t good enough.”

Ford spokesman Matt Moran said just 216 of about 6000 Courier utes sold in 1999 were equipped with the airbags in question. It is not clear how many of those cars remain on the road today.

He said “Ford will offer to buy affected customer vehicles at a fair market value”, as replacing the airbags is not feasible.

Toyota is providing loan cars to customers in the short term.

Mazda spokesman Mark Flintoft said only 49 of 466 Eunos 800 sedans originally equipped with the airbags remain registered in Australia.

More information: Productsafety.gov.au

Originally published as Airbag death triggers buybacks, recalls