Impreza caught up in Takata recall

A new player in the global airbag inflator recall is Subaru's Impreza, built between model years 2004 and 2007.

As many as 33,548 Imprezas – including WRX models – may have been sold in Australia with a passenger-side front airbag inflator that is subject to the recall.

With this announcement, Subaru now joins market rivals Toyota, Nissan and Honda in contacting vehicle owners to have cars inspected for the sub-standard airbag inflators, which were reportedly built at Takata's Mexican plant with at a defect rate as high as 80 parts per million – or eight times the acceptable norm.

The Impreza models sold here and subject to the recall are in the following VIN ranges:

MY2004 - 021344 to 045216
MY2005 - 024602 to 058988
MY2006 - 024801 to 057412
MY2007 - 034808 to 073605

Due to defects in the airbag inflators, moisture can penetrate the airbag, leading to a ruptured inflator and consequently showering shrapnel when the airbag deploys, thus causing injury to the face of the passenger. Subaru Australia will contact owners shortly to have their car returned to the nearest dealer for replacement of the passenger-side front airbag.

The importer has issued the following statement:

The recall is due to the possibility that the Takata airbag inflator may over time be susceptible to moisture intrusion.

This could make the inflator assembly prone to rupture during an accident, increasing the risk of occupant injury.

Potentially affected customers will be contacted in the near future by Subaru Australia, advising them of the recall. 

To the best of our knowledge, there have been no reported incidents of failure in Subaru vehicles in Australia.

Replacement parts are being prepared in Japan.

Due to the volume of vehicles across multiple brands affected globally, it is currently estimated that sufficient parts to enable recall repairs will be available by early next year.

At that stage, relevant customers will again be contacted regarding the repair procedure.

All work will be conducted for free and is estimated to take approximately 1.5 hours.