Aussies Urged To Check If Car Is Involved In Airbag Recall

An ACCC investigation has been launched into the global airbag recall involving more than 2.3 million cars in Australia.

The Takata airbags have already been linked to 18 deaths worldwide including one in Sydney, due to the possibility of them exploding on impact and sending out deadly metal fragments.

Only 850,000 of the cars subject to the original recall issued in 2009 have had their Takata airbags replaced, but it's since been revealed some of them have been fitted with the same dodgy airbags involved in the initial recall.

Consumer group CHOICE has revealed Toyota, Mazda, BMW, Lexus and Subaru have all used Takata airbags on cars involved in the recall, which will then need replacing again in five to six years.

"Refitting vehicles with the same dangerous airbags still leaves people driving ticking time bombs," said Tom Godfrey from CHOICE.

It comes after a police investigation found the death of a 58 year old man in a crash at Cabramatta on Thursday 13 July 2017, is likely due to an air bag fault in his Honda CRV, causing him to be hit in the neck by a small fragment.

NSW motoring group NRMA has welcomed the ACCC'S investigation, and urged car makers to be more proactive in addressing concerns about product recalls.

"This is important. We do not want faulty airbags in our members' cars and so really the onus is now on the industry to make sure they get to the recalls as quickly as possible, " said Peter Khoury from the NRMA.

"We're now hearing reports that the technology that's being used is not too dissimilar to the technology that's being replaced, that the life span is five to six years which wasn't our understanding and wasn't communicated to the public at the time and that the risk continues.

"So what we want to be able to say to the public is your airbags are there to save you, not to kill you and it's important that we make sure the technology is installed quickly, efficiently with as little risk to the public as possible."

So is your car on the list? The ACCC is urging all drivers to check if their car has been recalled here: