Global airbag recall hits Japanese big four

Update, April 12: Nissan has informed motoring.com.au that the number of Nissans affected by the recall globally totals approximately 480,000. Of those, 11,360 have been sold in Australia, across the T30 X-TRAIL, D22 Navara, Y61 Patrol and N16 Pulsar ranges.

Japan’s big four car-makers have announced a worldwide safety recall to rectify a potential passenger airbag malfunction, affecting 3.4 million vehicles globally and at least 12,000 in Australia.

All have signalled recalls of specific model batches made between 2000 and 2004 to check for a potential problem with passenger side airbags.

Component supplier Takata has flagged the possibility that it may have inadvertently used faulty propellant wafers in the front passenger airbag.

In Australia, the recall pertains to about 1700 Toyota Corolla and Avensis Verso vehicles built between November 2000 and March 2004.

“There’s a chance, in the event of a crash, that the inflator might rupture and cause the airbag not to deploy correctly,” Toyota Australia spokesman Mike Breen told motoring.com.au.

“We’ve had no reports of accidents or injuries in Australia as a result, but we’re recalling them to make sure.”

Honda Australia is recalling 9980 Civic sedan, CR-V and Jazz vehicles built between 2001 and 2003 – part of an operation covering more than 1.1 million units globally.

Nissan is still calculating how many local cars will need attention, spokesman Peter Fadeyev told motoring.com.au.

“We’re still establishing exact numbers here, but it’s part of a 480,000-unit recall worldwide, all built between 2000 and 2004,” he said.

For Mazda, the operation covers 468 Mazda6s in Australia, part of a total 45,500 vehicles across the world. All were built between 2002 and 2003.

All four Japanese brands have flagged their intention to notify owners by mail, asking them to take their car in to a dealer for inspection. Faulty airbags will be replaced at no cost.

Toyota said customers can expect the procedure to take one to 2.5 hours, depending on the vehicle.

For more information, call the manufacturers’ helplines:
Honda: (03) 9285 5510
Mazda: 1800 034 411
Nissan: (03) 9797 4111
Toyota: 1800 643 242

Separately, Subaru Australia has today recalled 5588 MY12 Impreza, Forester and XV models manufactured between January and April last year to fix a potential wiring problem that could cause rough idling, malfunctioning indicators and/or engine stalling.

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