Airbag recall progress impresses, roughly half the faulty cars have been fixed

Friday, 17 August 2018

Could a vital safety feature actually be a risk in your car? You can now check at www.rightcar.co.nz

New figures released by the government today show that significant progress has been made in the Takata Airbag recall, with close to half of the cars with the most dangerous Alpha-type airbags that are subject to the compulsory recall having been fixed.

The figures show that 38,238 Alpha airbags have so far been replaced, with 208,902 non-Alpha airbags (under recall, but not compulsory) also replaced, representing 45 per cent of all Alpha airbags and 42 per cent of non-Alphas in the country.

The Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, met with representatives from the VIA (representing used car dealers) and the Motor Industry Association (MIA, representing the new car industry) today and told Stuff that the commitment of the car industry as a whole has been outstanding and that he was content with the progress made so far, but cautioned there was still some way to go.

'Yes, I am happy so far, but I think it is still early days,' he said.

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'I think one of the things we are most happy about is that have some solid numbers compared to what we started with. It was a bit difficult to get an idea of where things were at the beginning because no-one had any figures.

'There's still a long way to go, but from what I am hearing by December next year, we should have what I would call a decent amount done.'

Motor Industry Association CEO David Crawford and Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi at the announcement of the compulsory recall.

The total Alpha-type airbags affected by the compulsory recall are now reported to be 86,014 across both New Zealand new and used imported vehicles in the country (with 38,238 completed), while 500,949 non-Alpha airbags (with 208,902 completed) have been recorded. Factors including car distributors completing internal audits with their parent companies of affected vehicles and work to get robust systems in place between government and industry have meant there have been increases in some numbers.

Faafoi has nothing but praise for the way the local car industry has responded to the issue, crediting the co-operation of all importers and distributors to get the numbers in place so that the MIA, with information provided by every one of the car marques with affected vehicles, now has stable numbers for the recall.

'They (the local car industry) have been great,' said Faafoi.

'When we were first briefed about it, in a New Zealand context, the numbers we had were, at first glance, quite scary in terms of the quantity.'

While the number of failures are still comparatively low in relation to the number of affected airbags in the market, the potential risks of an Alpha airbag failing are large.

However, Faafoi said that he left his first meeting with the MIA thinking what they needed to do was achievable 'and we weren't going to upset the apple cart too much.'

'From the beginning, and all the way through to now, they have been brilliant and we wouldn't have the clear picture of where we are at unless they did a lot of crunching,' he said.

Faafoi also has confidence in the industry's ability to repair the affected Alpha airbags in time to meet the deadline for the compulsory recall of December 2019.

It is mainly cars built between the late 1990s and mid-2000s that are affected by the recall.

'We know that this both requires car marques, who in most cases haven't had any part in bringing these vehicles into New Zealand, to absorb the cost of the replacement airbag and the time in workshops repairing them,' he said.

'We talked about the time frame, because I didn't want to ask the impossible, and they seemed to be happy that they were tracking along alright.'

The supply of replacement parts, previously a factor in the initial slower than ideal progress, seems to be less of an issue now as well, with Faafoi saying 'The question has been asked about the availability of parts and capacity, and they seem to be happy that they have enough there to keep going for 12 months.'

Coinciding with the release of the official figures and the solidification of the numbers involved, Faafoi said that the searchable database of cars affected by the compulsory Alpha airbag recall on the RightCar website was now fully functional, with all known affected vehicle makes and models available.

With the solid numbers and the database now fully available, Faafoi stressed that car owners also needed to do their part.

'Of course we also need the public to act to ensure their vehicles are repaired if necessary,' he said.

'The majority of affected vehicles are older, as the Alpha types were an earlier model of Takata airbags more likely to have been used in vehicles manufactured in the late 1990s to the early to mid-2000s.

'If you receive a letter from your car's distributor, please act on it and call to make arrangements for your airbag replacement. If you have concerns your car could be affected, also contact your distributor who can check for you.

'Regardless of whether you bought your vehicle brand new, second hand from a dealer or privately, you are entitled to receive a replacement airbag free of charge.'

Currently the RightCar website database only includes cars affected by the compulsory Alpha airbag recall, not the non-Alpha voluntary recall and there does seem to be some consumer confusion around the difference between the two.

'I think prioritising the Alphas because of the heightened danger was the issue,' said Faafoi.

'I can understand (the confusion), because to the general public an airbag is an airbag, but we are making sure we are cracking down on the Alpha first because of the danger. Obviously the quantity isn't as large, so we needed to get on top of that first.

'Hopefully over time that becomes a bit clearer,' he said, before adding 'If (people) are not sure if they have the Alpha or the non-Alpha, then the RightCar website is the easiest place to go, so it's good to have that up and running.'

Click here to see if your car has been affected by the global recall and search the database.