A recall campaign announced by Japanese airbag manufacturer, Takata, is expected to affect approximately 38,000 cars here in Ireland across Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota brands. The concern surrounds the inflators in the airbag system, which could cause the airbag to deploy in an abnormal fashion in the event of a crash. To date there have been five incidents - in Japan and the United States - in which this occurred but there were no injuries in any incident.
Toyota Ireland says it will recall approximately 22,000 vehicles, all of which were manufactured between November 2000 and March 2004. Models that are affected are the Corolla, Avensis and the Yaris.
David Shannon, Managing Director of Toyota Ireland told The Irish Times:
"This is a voluntary are purely precautionary measure by Toyota to reassure our customers that their interest is our Number 1 priority. Even though in some circumstances these vehicles are nearly 13 years old Toyota places the highest importance on customer's satisfaction and safety."
Nissan Ireland is to recall just over 13,500 cars that include the Almera, Navara, Pathfinder, Patrol, Terrano, Tino and X-Trail. Although Nissan is not aware of any incidence in which its vehicles have been affected by this, it too is keen to ensure that vehicles are checked to give customers peace of mind.
Honda has said it believes that around 1,500 of its vehicles here in Ireland are due to be recalled. These include Civic, Jazz and CRV models that date back to 2001 and 2002. Honda Ireland will be contacting owners of affected vehicles in the next weeks regarding this.
Just one model of Mazda cars - the Mazda6 - is affected by this recall and it is believed to total 390 vehicles here in Ireland.
If you are unsure as to whether your vehicle may be affected by this you can find out additional information by contacting your local dealer who will be able to advise if your vehicle does need to be recalled.
Feel free to contact us for more information.