Passenger airbag recall

[Night Owl 67]

I received a letter from Toyota in June 2016 saying the passenger airbag on my Yaris needed to be replaced, when I contacted them I was told it would be a six month wait for the part (!), however I am still waiting to hear from them regarding this matter, despite having contacted them a number of times.  Has anyone else had the same problem? 

[monkeydave]

i had a letter on my 2011 jazz but i traded the car in last jan.

i didnt really give it any thought when i was driving it, you have more chance winning the lottery than something happening to you

if the car is 2004 and nothing has happened in 13 years dont sweat it, have you seen how many recalls all manufactures have to get through

just put it out of your mind

[bathtub tom]

I ignored a recall for the passenger airbag on my old '53 reg Nissan. Don't know if the new owner bothered either.

Got a recall letter for the driver's airbag on my '14 reg Yaris months ago, telling me I'll be informed when they can do it. Haven't heard anything.

[TAuris]

Don't worry, in the same boat.

[FROSTYBALLS]

If it is regarding the Takata airbag recall, globally at least 15 vehicle manufacturers and over 50 million vehicles are affected. The vehicle manufacturers were reliant Takata to supply replacements for the affected parts. In June Takata filed for bankruptcy protection and faces billions of dollars in liabilities.

[YarisHybrid2016]

5 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

If it is regarding the Takata airbag recall, globally at least 15 vehicle manufacturers and over 50 million vehicles are affected. The vehicle manufacturers were reliant Takata to supply replacements for the affected parts. In June Takata filed for bankruptcy protection and faces billions of dollars in liabilities.

To add to Frosty's post - Takata are actually unable to produce sufficient replacement units, and it appears that the recall might not be able to be completed. It's unclear what the future status of this will be.

The estimated liability to Takata from this is currently $10 Billion (approximately 6 times more than the company is worth).

Approximately 125 million cars worldwide are affected.

[mrpj]

I received my letter in February this year, nothing further, but Night Owl's June '16 makes that quite recent in comparison!

So it would seem that this recall can't be THAT urgent. However, who is going to foot the bill if someone is killed or injured by this potential grenade?

[FROSTYBALLS]

7 minutes ago, mrpj said:

However, who is going to foot the bill if someone is killed or injured by this potential grenade?

The responsibility lies with Takata.

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, mrpj said:

So it would seem that this recall can't be THAT urgent.

Problem is that no-one, including Takata, know how many vehicles and airbags may be affected, and if or when the issue may occur. So although the chance of the issue arising is slim, the risk remains. 

 

[Night Owl 67]

Thanks for the replies.  I've no idea if it is a Takata airbag, I did hear on the radio earlier this year that a number of people in other countries have been killed because of this problem (with Takata) hence why I am concerned and want to get it fixed asap.

[Mike J.]

AFAICT, the problem is possible shards of metal on deployment. If it is that bad, surely a temporary recall should be to disable said airbags via the ECU. BTW, mine was replaced a few months ago after around 6 months wait.

[Devon Aygo]

Just to add the list of affected manufacturers now stands at 23 and the expectation is the recall will easily surpass 100.000.000 cars affected Takata are going through years of records to identify the affected inflators.

The affected airbags were all manufactured by Takata as far back as the year 2000 using Phase stabilised ammonium nitrate (PSAN) as a propellant in the airbag. The failure is a rupture of the inflator casing which has the potential to send pieces of the casing into the cabin with explosive force which not surprisingly has caused Deaths and injuries. The ruptures are caused by degradation of the PSAN which has 3 possible triggers:

1. Age, the failures have only been recorded in older cars

2. Moisture absorbing, high relative moisture content in the air in humid Locations.

3. Exposure to repeated high temperature cycling

Because of this it was agreed to prioritise older cars in hot and humid locations ( called zone 1 ) the recalls started back in 2014 and repair rates in these prioritised locations has now exceeded 85-90%  countries in the EU included Spain, Greece, Italy etc

We in central/northern Europe are in zone 2 where the focus has now shifted too and stocks have started to arrive en-mass so hopefully we will be able to start calling back more cars. 

The entire process is massive and to try and retain control a timetable has been agreed, at present we have dates such as December 2018 and December 2019 where a new phase of newer cars will be called back, at present this is the agreed launch date for the youngest affected cars known but as Takata continue to pour through their records it is likely that more and more manufacturers and models are included based on what numbers the manufacturers and authorities know of so far it is expected we will still be fixing cars in 2023 and likely beyond.

[Devon Aygo]

4 hours ago, Mike J. said:

AFAICT, the problem is possible shards of metal on deployment. If it is that bad, surely a temporary recall should be to disable said airbags via the ECU. BTW, mine was replaced a few months ago after around 6 months wait.

Regulators,safety organisations and manufacturers all agreed that the risk posed whilst not insignificant it would be far more dangerous to deactivate the airbags

[sproutdreamer]

It took 12 months from the first letter advising me about the passenger air bag replacement to the second letter asking me to take the car in for replacement. It took the main agent 3 hours and they billed Toyota just under £200.

[Yaristotle]

Putting a manufacturer’s recall on the backburner may not be possible for too much longer if the House of Commons Transport Select Committee has its way. It would appear that the HoCTSC have made a proposal to the government that vehicles with outstanding recalls should not be issued with a MOT certificate.

 blog.greenflag.com/2017/cars-fail-mot-recall-work/

[YarisHybrid2016]

38 minutes ago, Yaristotle said:

Putting a manufacturer’s recall on the backburner may not be possible for too much longer if the House of Commons Transport Select Committee has its way. It would appear that the HoCTSC have made a proposal to the government that vehicles with outstanding recalls should not be issued with a MOT certificate.

 blog.greenflag.com/2017/cars-fail-mot-recall-work/

Wow - that would be pretty serious in this instance as it is not as if the owners are failing to get the work done, but are unable to get the work done because of the manufacturer.

I don't understand anyone not getting recall work done. Why wouldn't you? It usually relates to safety-critical components or systems. There are even people on this forum that have said they know about recall work but haven't had it done - why not????

[bathtub tom]

1 minute ago, YarisHybrid2016 said:

 There are even people on this forum that have said they know about recall work but haven't had it done - why not????

In my case it was a ten-year-old car with a recall for the passenger airbag. I would had to take it to a main dealer fifteen miles away and wait for the job to be done. The car had no squeaks or rattles from the dashboard. What chance of it still being quiet after it had been dismantled? I usually drove the car and hardly ever sat in the passenger seat so was unlikely to be affected by a faulty passenger airbag.

[FROSTYBALLS]

39 minutes ago, Yaristotle said:

Putting a manufacturer’s recall on the backburner may not be possible for too much longer if the House of Commons Transport Select Committee has its way. It would appear that the HoCTSC have made a proposal to the government that vehicles with outstanding recalls should not be issued with a MOT certificate.

 blog.greenflag.com/2017/cars-fail-mot-recall-work

It isn't a case of the car manufacturer putting the recall on the back burner. It is the fact that Takata cannot supply replacement airbags in sufficient quantities to get the recalls done quickly enough.

Manufacturers like Toyota, Honda and Nissan, have been undertaking airbag recalls at their own cost, and hopefully will be able to claim some of this back from Takata (though that is questionable since Takata have filed for bankruptcy protection).

As regards some owners not getting the work done, it seems that the avoidance of dashboard rattles is more important than safety, regardless of whether passengers are regularly carried.

[YarisHybrid2016]

3 hours ago, bathtub tom said:

In my case it was a ten-year-old car with a recall for the passenger airbag. I would had to take it to a main dealer fifteen miles away and wait for the job to be done. The car had no squeaks or rattles from the dashboard. What chance of it still being quiet after it had been dismantled? I usually drove the car and hardly ever sat in the passenger seat so was unlikely to be affected by a faulty passenger airbag.

That is an extremely poor reason not to do it. What if that one time, you had someone in the passenger seat, and you had a crash? How would you feel if they died as a result of the air bag exploding, and they would have survived otherwise? 

[Yaristotle]

12 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

It isn't a case of the car manufacturer putting the recall on the back burner. It is the fact that Takata cannot supply replacement airbags in sufficient quantities to get the recalls done quickly enough.

 

The point I made here is that it is the owner that is putting the recall on the back-burner as is evidenced by some other posts to this thread. 

Is it actually the airbag that requires replacement or simply the sensor? I take the point about Takata’s failure to supply but in my own case I received a letter directly from Toyota re my 14 year-old Yaris making clear that I should call my local dealer – it seems that age is not Toyota’s determining factor in replacement priority. It did take a few months for the dealer to obtain the said part and the task was carried out. Result: successful completion with no apparent rattles. My father has a Yaris (two years younger than my own) which went through the same process following which the air-con light refused to illuminate. This has since righted itself so it may be unfair to point a finger at the dealer.         

I guess, overall, that once the manufacturer has sent out the original notification letter they have legally covered their corporate !Removed! as, presumably, responsibility then falls to the dealer to carry out the work. Clearly if the part is unobtainable then the ball is back in the manufacturer’s court. Once the said parts are with the dealer and the work can go ahead then, when notified, the responsibility is with the vehicle owner. For me it would appear pretty logical to make MOT failure a consequence an owner’s neglect to undertake this task.  

 bathtub tom said:  In my case it was a ten-year-old car with a recall for the passenger airbag. I would had to take it to a main dealer fifteen miles away and wait for the job to be done. The car had no squeaks or rattles from the dashboard. What chance of it still being quiet after it had been dismantled? I usually drove the car and hardly ever sat in the passenger seat so was unlikely to be affected by a faulty passenger airbag.

I do not think that the model you refer to requires the dashboard to be dismantled though this may be relevant to other models. I am pretty sure that the work can be done simply with access via the passenger glovebox. As others have pointed out, though, this should hardly be a determining factor as to whether to carry out the work or not..         

[FROSTYBALLS]

As regards the Takata airbag recalls, these will almost certainly have to have some exception for the MOT, as Takata are uncovering more vehicles which may be affected as they continue to examine their records, the delays in Takata being able to supply replacement parts, and the anticipation that these recalls will go beyond 2023.

[bathtub tom]

8 hours ago, Yaristotle said:

I do not think that the model you refer to requires the dashboard to be dismantled though this may be relevant to other models. I am pretty sure that the work can be done simply with access via the passenger glovebox. As others have pointed out, though, this should hardly be a determining factor as to whether to carry out the work or not..        

I never said the car in question was my current one, it happened to be a '53 reg Nissan, which I sold some years ago.

[Mick F]

Called in at the local Toyota dealer this afternoon as we were passing, and asked the service department about the recall.

I was told that it's a mandatory recall and to book the car in next week.  The chap said that it's a 30min job and it's to do with the driver's airbag.  I'll give them a ring to book it in at our convenience.

Mick.

[BigBudda]

On ‎30‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 4:38 PM, Night Owl 67 said:

I received a letter from Toyota in June 2016 saying the passenger airbag on my Yaris needed to be replaced, when I contacted them I was told it would be a six month wait for the part (!), however I am still waiting to hear from them regarding this matter, despite having contacted them a number of times.  Has anyone else had the same problem? 

Hi, just read your post and you may have had it done by now but if its any help, I've just bought a 2004 Mk1 Yaris and whilst checking its MOT history over the last 10 years it also mentioned there are outstanding recalls, so rang Toyota yesterday and they said it was for the passenger airbag. They booked the car in to have it replaced whilst I was on the phone. Its going to be changed in 2 weeks. 

[Night Owl 67]

No haven't had it done yet!!