Airbag recall

[dmitch1987]

Hi all. 

Just picked up a 54 plate Yaris preowned as a 1st car. 

With in all of the MOT certificates I have found a recall letter dated June last year... Wifes now worried and is reading all of the horror stories online. 

Going to obviously call Toyota tomorrow but just wondering what your experience is with this.

Expect Toyota will honor the recall but wifes stressing :D

Cheers in advance!

[FROSTYBALLS]

Welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

There have been several threads on this already on Toyota Owners Club.

This is part of the well-publicised series of Takata airbag recalls that has affected vehicles from around 12 vehicle manufacturers including Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Fiat, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors (Vauxhall in the UK), BMW, Ferrari, etc, and has affected 53 million vehicles globally as at May 2015. Takata is actually responsible for the faulty airbag inflators, not the vehicle manufacturers.

See - https://www.toyota.co.uk/world-of-toyota/stories-news-events/voluntary-recalls-involving-takata-airbags.json

One can use the recall checker on Toyota's website to check whether the car still has any outstanding recalls - https://www.toyota.co.uk/caring-for-your-toyota/owners/recall-checker.json#/iframe/https%3A%2F%2Fforms.toyota.co.uk%2Frecall-checker

Extract from Wikipedia -

Takata began making airbags in 1988 and, as of 2014, holds 20 percent of the market. During 2013, several automakers began large recalls of vehicle due to Takata-made airbags. Reports state that the problems may have begun a decade before.

Honda stated they knew of more than 100 injuries and eight deaths (seven in the United States plus one in Malaysia) that were related to Takata airbags.

In April and May 2013, a total of 3.6 million cars were recalled due to defective Takata airbags. All of those airbags were made at, or otherwise used inflator units manufactured by, Takata's Monclova Plant in Coahuila, Mexico, operated by Takata's North American/Mexican subsidiary, TK Holdings Inc. In November 2014, BMW announced they will move any orders from the Mexican plant to a Takata plant in Germany.

In June 2014, Takata admitted their Mexican subsidiary had mishandled the manufacture of explosive propellants and improperly stored chemicals used in airbags. Identifying vehicles with defective airbags was made more difficult by the failure of TK Holdings Inc. to keep proper quality control records. That prompted another round of recalls in June 2013.

In their statement the company said, "We take this situation seriously, will strengthen our quality control and make a concerted effort to prevent a recurrence".

On June 23, 2014, auto manufacturers BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, and Toyota announced they were recalling over three million vehicles worldwide due to Takata Corporation-made airbags. The reason was that they could rupture and send flying debris inside the vehicle. This was in response to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation that was initiated after the NHTSA received three injury complaints.

In a statement on June 23, 2014, Takata said they thought excessive moisture was the cause of the defect. Haruo Otani, an official at the vehicle recall section of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, said that moisture and humidity could be seeping inside inflators, destabilizing the volatile propellant inside.

In July 2014, a pregnant Malaysian woman was killed in a collision involving her 2003 Honda City which contained the defective airbag. The woman, aged 42, died when a metal fragment from a ruptured driver’s airbag sliced into her neck in the accident in which she was driving at around 30 km/h when another vehicle hit her at a junction, according to a lawsuit filed by her father at a Miami federal court. Her daughter, delivered after the mother's death, died three days later.

On November 18, 2014, the NHTSA ordered Takata to initiate a nationwide airbag recall. The action came as 10 automakers in the U.S. recalled hundreds of thousands of cars equipped with potentially faulty air bags manufactured by Takata.

On May 19, 2015, Takata is now responsible for the largest auto recall in history. Takata has already recalled 40 million vehicles across 12 vehicle brands for "Airbags that could explode and potentially send shrapnel into the face and body of both the driver and front seat passenger". This recall will bring the number up to about 53 million automobiles eligible for this recall. In November 2015, Takata was fined $200 Million ($70 million paid upfront) by U.S. federal regulators in response to Takata admittance of a default. Toyota, Mazda and Honda have said that they will not use ammonium nitrate inflators.

The issue itself has only shown to affect vehicles in hot & humid locations, however all potentially affected vehicles have been recalled as a precaution. 

[dmitch1987]

Cheers frostyballs. Have looked at the website and its confirmed that the car is applicable. Will give them a bell tomorrow. 

A bit concerning that the previous owners had this letter for 10 months and did nothing with it.... Glad they left the letter in with the MOTs though or if have never thought to check!

[FROSTYBALLS]

With the number of vehicles involved, the recalls have been taking time to be sorted - think supplies from Takata have slowed progress.

[bathtub tom]

10 hours ago, dmitch1987 said:

A bit concerning that the previous owners had this letter for 10 months and did nothing with it....

I ignored this recall on my last car. It was eleven years old and rattle free. I didn't want someone dismantling the dashboard and causing possible problems.

I considered the risk minimal and far less than other hazards.

[dmitch1987]

Cheers bud. I have the new part on order so will wait for it to come in.