The CompleteCar.ie team has been very busy this week fielding questions from media and public alike on the latest round of car recalls that have been announced. In this instance over 38,000 vehicles across four manufacturers are involved due to an issue with the passenger airbag. But should motorists be concerned about these recalls?
For the most part, no. Recalls are part and parcel of, not just the motor industry, but consumer goods in general. Toys, prams, power tools etc. are regularly recalled by manufacturers for a variety of reasons, but rarely make national news. Yet car recalls appear on RTE Six One. A lot of the media interest can be attributed to the fact that, for the fourth time in as many years, Toyota is one of the four car makers involved in the latest recall.
In 2009 the Japanese giant recalled 1.3 million cars worldwide due to issues with the exhaust system and seatbelts. A further 700,000 cars were recalled over fears of a fire risk in the window electrics and of course there was the 'unintended acceleration' issue that saw over three million cars worldwide recalled.
With modern motorists demanding more and more equipment cars are becoming increasingly complicated. Factor in changes in components (be it by design or supplier) over the course of a car's lifespan and it is understandable that from time to time something slips through the cracks.
The current recall relates to components supplied by airbag and seatbelt manufacturer Takata, which has admitted that its parts were at fault, and that the problem was caused by a manufacturing defect in the propellant used to inflate the airbag. In worst case scenarios this may cause the airbag to inflate incorrectly with the potential to cause passenger injury.
Takata does supply parts to other manufacturers so there may be more cars recalled as yet. (We have just seen an announcement from Chrysler and Dodge relating to airbags...)
To put it into perspective however, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda have recalled 3.4 million cars due to an issue that affected five cars in the world and in which no injuries were reported. You are more likely to fall foul of tyres that are wearing unevenly or a mechanical fault that is car specific and not subject to a recall.
That said, if you are the owner of one of the cars subject to this or any recall, bring your car in when requested and have the issue looked at free of charge.