The COMESA Competition Commission has issued an alert to consumers within its region over vehicle recalls in the United States and Japan due to faulty airbag inflators, citing the ‘high importation of used cars in the region.”
The affected vehicles are mostly from model years 2002 to 2015, and as of January 2024, over 100 million airbag inflators worldwide had been recalled by more than 20 car manufacturers.The faulty Takata Airbags have been linked to 22 deaths and more than 180 known injuries.The Comesa Competition Authority said it established that in May this year, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a ‘Do not Drive’ warning to owners of certain vehicles manufactured in the early 2000s.“According to the Safety Recall Notice by the NHTSA, the Takata PSDI-5 inflator propellant may over time, create excessive internal pressure resulting in the rupture of the body of the inflator upon deployment, thereby causing metal fragments to pass through the air bag cushion material and cause injury or death to vehicle occupants,” said Meti Demissie Disasa, Registrar Comesa Competition Commission, “The ruptures may occur in some of the inflators after several years of exposure to persistent conditions of high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling, among other factors.”
The Comesa Competition Authority said it established that in May this year, the NHTSA issued a ‘Do not Drive’ warning to owners of certain 2004-2005 Toyota Rav4s, certain 2003-2004 Corollas, including Matrix, Certain 2002-2006 Nissan Sentras, Certain 2002-2004 Nissan Pathfinders.
Other cars are 2001-2002 Honda Accord, 2001-2002 Honda Civic, 2002 Honda CR-V, 2002 Honda Odyssey, 2003 Honda Pilot, certain 2006 Mazda B-series, certain 2006 Ford Rangers, certain 2003-2004 Pontiac vibes, certain 2000-2006 BMW 3 series (E46) including M3, certain 2000-2003 BMW 5 series (E39) including M5, certain 2000-2004 BMW X5s (E53).
Disasa says the Commission also established that in 2017, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan issued a statement conditioning the repair of vehicles with Takata airbags before they were presented for inspection and notified the public that about 18 people worldwide had been killed due to abnormal explosions. Car manufacturer Toyota has a database where car owners can check whether their cars are subject to the recall, while NHTSA has a similar database.
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