Airbag crisis ... the number of affected cars in Australia is growing. Photo ... - NEWS.com.au
The number of Australian cars affected in the world’s biggest recall is now more than 637,000 and climbing. It became the biggest recall in the world after Japanese manufacturer Takata — which supplies 20 per cent of the car industry’s airbags — admitted in a US hearing this week the problem was more widespread than it had claimed for years. Legal experts say motorists have little choice but to endure the painstaking wait for the replacements, and they can’t sue the car companies unless someone dies or is seriously injured from the defective airbags. The crisis has left drivers with the unenviable task of taking the risk and driving their cars or — if they can afford it — park their recalled car until new airbags become available. Not all of the airbags in the 53 million cars are defective. But internal testing by Takata over the past six months found 265 of 30,000 recalled airbags had ruptured — or less than 1 per cent. That may sound like good odds, until you realise it still leaves 530,000 cars around the world — and at least 6000 in Australia — with airbags that can kill. But this week Takata doubled the number of airbags recalled after determining humidity may not have been the only contributing factor. Source: www.news.com.au
