Takata Beta bags to be banned

The campaign has started to have a registration ban applied to all vehicles fitted with potentially deadly Takata Beta airbags by the end of 2020.

Currently, vehicles with Alpha airbags are subject to registration bans in most Australian states and territories, with New South Wales and Victoria soon to complete the list.

But with all bar 4500 Alpha bags now accounted for, attention has turned to Beta airbags, of which there are still 537,000 in vehicles on Australia roads.

Alpha is the designation for first-generation Takata airbags that sustained a range of manufacturing defects. They are susceptible to degradation and have a significantly higher rate of rupturing upon deployment.

When they do rupture they fire shards of metal at people seated in the vehicle.

Beta airbags are newer and don’t have the same manufacturing fault as the Alphas but do have the potential to eventually degrade.

Globally, 100 million vehicles have been affected by the Takata recall and there have been 26 fatalities and more than 300 injuries caused by Takata airbags. In Australia, at least one person has been killed and one injured.

Under the current mandatory recall ordered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Alpha airbags have urgent priority to be replaced, while the entire process is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020.

But some vehicle owners with Takata airbags have proved resistant to all sorts of inducements — such as advertising campaigns, correspondence, phone calls and even doorknocks — to respond to the recall.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber indicated the maximum pressure needed to be applied to vehicle owners to get their Beta bags fixed.

“An advertising campaign is unlikely to bring this home, that’s why we need to keep working with the states and territories on de-registration,” said Weber.

“I just think this is absolutely critical if we are going to get this campaign home.

“All states have agreed to de-register Alpha airbags … but in 2002 we will have to start de-registering people with Beta airbags.

“Those people have had the opportunity to respond to the campaign and haven’t done it. Those airbags need to be replaced and the only way to successfully do this is through the support of the ACCC and the state and territory governments and de-registration.”

Weber said he was confident a request for Beta registration ban would receive a positive reception from the ACCC and the states and territories.

“It won’t be long before we are into 2020 and that will have to happen if we are going to get these vehicles off the road by the of December 2020,” he said.

“This is a substantial public health issue and de-registration is the only way we can get that universal approach that is needed.”