NSW Coroner examining regulator’s Takata recall handling

The NSW Coroner is reportedly examining the handling of the ongoing Takata airbag scandal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Department of Infrastructure and Roads (DIRD), including whether it could have potentially prevented the death of a Sydney man in 2017.

According to Crikey website, the NSW coroner is examining “the system of safety regulation” that failed to prevent 58-year-old’s Huy Neng Ngo’s death in 2017 when his Honda CR-V’s airbag fired metal shrapnel at the Sydney man.

Citing internal ACCC documents, the publication claims “at least seven Takata airbag incidents in Australia” had occurred before the death of Ngo, which led to the recall.

Until now, only one of those – an incident involving a 21-year-old woman in Darwin that left her blind in one eye and incapacitated for life – was publicly known.

“At the centre of the coroner’s investigation is a simple question: should the ACCC have intervened sooner to order a compulsory recall, especially given what was already known about the risk Takata airbags posed to consumers?” Crikey writes.

“Internal ACCC papers obtained by Inq reveal that four, and possibly more, of these incidents were known to car manufacturers, but that the ACCC – the one body that can recommend a compulsory recall – only became aware of them after it became involved and compelled car manufacturers to hand over what they knew during a months-long investigation.”

The revelations follow the death of a second Australian motorist due to a Takata airbag in November 2019, leading BMW to take the unprecedented action of grounding or buying back 12,000 vehicles.

While the situation bubbled to the surface in Australia following Ngo’s death, 12 people had been killed in the United States, where authorities issued a compulsory recall some 18 months before the ACCC, Crikey said.

“The papers reveal that these previously unreported incidents occurred over a period of 12 months before the ACCC became involved in the recall,” the report said.

“In addition, the internal papers make it clear that there was a separate and highly significant incident which was known to both the ACCC and DIRD, and that both safety regulators agreed to keep the incident secret, seemingly with the knowledge of the car manufacturers’ lobby group, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.”

The ACCC implemented a compulsory Takata recall at the beginning of 2018. To-date, manufacturers have now replaced a total of 3.5 million airbags in more than 2.5 million vehicles.

The ACCC and DIRD have declined to comment on whether or not a compulsory recall should have been enacted earlier, citing ongoing hearings by the NSW Deputy Coroner.