The Thai Automotive Industry Association (TAIA) warned its citizens of faulty Takata airbags and urged them to reach out to their corresponding auto manufacturers. Though the defects were spotted in 2013, the association issued another warning after a man in Singapore died of a stray shrapnel piece from one of the defective airbags just last month.
According to TAIA, around 500,000 vehicles in Thailand may still have this defect installed 12 years after the initial announcement. As many as 14 car makers made recalls for affected models, including Chevrolet, BMW, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota, Lexus, Jaguar XE and XF, Land Rover Discovery, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Subaru.
TAIA urged vehicle owners once again to have their units checked with manufacturers. Owners will not be charged for any repair or replacement costs if their vehicles are installed with the faulty airbag.
TAKATA AIRBAGS
Takata airbags were manufactured by Takata Corporation, an automotive parts manufacturer from Japan. The company faced trouble in 2013 when various companies began recalling vehicles because of Takata’s defective airbags. The New York Times claimed that cars made even a decade earlier may have been fitted with the faulty airbags.
Japanese brand Honda began recalling models in 1998 and revealed there have been 100 injuries and 13 deaths related to the Takata airbags and their vehicles.
By 2013, around 3.6 million vehicles were recalled worldwide for the defect. The following year in 2014, Takata stated that their Mexican subsidiary was responsible for the defect during production. Explosive propellants and other chemicals were incorrectly used in the process of making the airbags. Furthermore, Takata was unable to properly track which units were affected by this faulty production, forcing automakers to mass recall vehicles again in 2014.
The explosive propellants and other gases would cause sharp metal fragments to emerge from the airbag. This shrapnel would rip the airbag and fly towards the driver’s neck or head area, causing fatal injuries.
Takata and its airbags are the root cause of the largest vehicle recall in history, as of 2015. To date, 40 million vehicles from 12 brands have been recalled due to the airbag defect.
Did you find this article interesting? Click the ‘heart’ button above to give it a ‘like’!
