Kathryn Ryan talks with Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford about the massive recall of NZ cars with suspected faulty airbags.

Passenger airbags in a number of New Zealand cars have been disconnected, the country's transport agency says.

An investigation by Fair Go found more than 300,000 people in New Zealand could be driving with faulty airbags. It follows hundreds of reports of Takata airbags, in many different models of vehicles, failing to fully inflate in a crash.

In some cases the inflator casing broke, sending metal shrapnel flying into people's faces.

At least 10 deaths in the US are related to the faulty airbag inflators.

However some airbags may not inflate at all, because they have been disconnected.

Have you had an experience involving these airbags, or do you own a vehicle with Takata airbags installed? Email us at businessday@fairfaxmedia.co.nz.

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In a technical bulletin, the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) says it is aware of a practice in Japan where front passenger airbags were disconnected pending the availability of parts to fix recalled vehicles.

As part of the disconnection process a component is fitted, fooling the vehicle's electronics into believing the airbag is present, and the warning light works as normal.

Information on the NZTA website says "a number" of vehicles with disconnected airbags have been imported in New Zealand and the influx of vehicles with disconnected airbags is likely to continue.

As a result, all used vehicles from Japan presented for entry certification from Wednesday must be visually verified that the front passenger airbags are present and connected.

AA network support manager Phil Collings said the AA only learnt of the disconnected airbags on Tuesday morning and would be inspecting vehicles coming into the country for the issue from Wednesday.



Owners of cars already in the country with disconnected airbags will not know whether their airbags are disconnected or not unless they take the vehicle to a workshop. However, Collings urged vehicle owners not to panic.



"It needs to be methodical how we go through this. We don't want to have people unnecessarily upset at the moment.

"We're learning a lot over the last eight hours, so over the coming weeks we will know more," Collings said.

Recalls to replace frontal Takata airbags have been going on since 2013, but there have been delays in the supply of replacement parts.

NZTA said it urges owners of affected vehicles to have checks carried out to address the risk.

National delivery manager Robyn Elston says while it is not currently known how many vehicles with disabled airbags have entered New Zealand, current information from manufacturers suggests the issue will also be limited to vehicles imported since 2015, when the practice is known to have begun in Japan.

"We are working urgently with individual manufacturers, the Motor Industry Association (MIA), and the Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association (IMVIA), to gather more information and to identify individual vehicles which are affected. We will publish lists of affected vehicles on our website as the information is gathered from manufacturers.

"While we have taken immediate action to investigate the extent of the issue and to ensure no further vehicles enter the country with disabled airbags, it's important that potentially affected vehicles already here are checked and that any disabled airbags are reconnected.

"If you have any immediate concerns, we suggest you contact your vehicle manufacturer's representative in New Zealand – such as a local dealership – for advice on how to get your vehicle checked."

​The sheer size of the faulty airbag recall - 10 times bigger than any recall in New Zealand motoring history - means it could take years for all affected cars to be fixed.

There have been no reports of death or injury in New Zealand from the airbags but at least 10 deaths in the US are related to the faulty airbag inflators.

The worldwide recall of faulty inflators in airbags made by the Japanese firm is the largest automobile recall in history, and may affect up to 100 million vehicles.

No more than 60,000 had been replaced in New Zealand. That left about 240,000 faulty airbags which could be on the road.

The supply of replacement airbag inflators is logistically challenging and will take time, Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford says.

'NO IMMEDIATE RISK TO SAFETY'

Car companies such as Nissan and Toyota have been fitting replacement inflators to faulty airbags since the middle of 2013, which is when the issue with the faulty Takata inflators first became known.

Toyota New Zealand says 82,000 Toyota and Lexus vehicles are subject to the recall in this country, with 12,879 fixed so far. Toyota NZ estimates all the affected vehicles will be fixed within 24 months.

The company will be providing an update to remaining affected owners within the next three weeks.

Nissan New Zealand is aware of 18,500 of its vehicles affected by the recall. Close to 6000 have been rectified or booked in to be fixed, and it is hoped that 9000 will be fixed by the end of this year, managing director John Manley said.

NZTA manager Robyn Elston told Fair Go there were safety ramifications "but no immediate risk to safety".

"In a recall the scale of the Takata airbags, there will be delays while replacement airbags are manufactured and replaced to appropriate standards," she said.

Faulty airbag inflators were in Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, Isuzu, GM, Ford, Mitsubishi, Daihatsu, Ferrari and Chrysler vehicles.

Car owners going to recalls.govt.nz to check if they were affected appeared to have crashed the government website on Tuesday.

LETTERS SENT OUT TO NO REPLY

Speaking to Radio New Zealand on Tuesday morning, Crawford said the recall was unfolding slowly because very few of the 100 million parts affected world-wide had actually failed.

The risk of Takata airbag failure was far higher in areas of the world with hot and humid conditions not seen in New Zealand, he said.

Distributors in New Zealand had the option of sending out a letter to affected customers immediately or when they had the parts available to fix the problem, he said.

Many of those letters had already gone out to Kiwis who were not taking up the offer to fix their airbags with the fervour normally seen with recalls, Crawford said.

"It certainly is the biggest recall ever, 10 times as large as we have ever had in New Zealand," he said.

"Unfortunately at the moment the response rate is quite low. The response rate is 40 to 60 per cent when normally we would expect about 70 to 90 per cent with recalls," he said.

"I think it's partly exacerbated by the age of the vehicles - these vehicles can be up to 13 years old. It may be that the Motor Vehicle Register where we get the data on who the current owner of the vehicle is, is not accurate.

"We also know that some people are just lackadaisical."

'IT'S REALLY BEEN KEPT QUIET'

Appearing on TVNZ's Breakfast, Fair Go reporter Garth Bray said the airbags were a "huge, huge issue".

"It's really been kept quiet here. We had stories a couple of years ago on the news about how it's 5000, 8000 cars affected - we'll get on with it quietly."

Bray said if the bag did not deploy it was less of a worry as cars had seatbelts and several other safety features.

"But if the thing actually ruptures that's something nobody would want.

"I don't want to shout fire in a crowded theatre, we don't get the same weather conditions here that we do in the southern states of the US ... but it's just that risk."

Owners of vehicles sold new in New Zealand should by now have been advised by individual distributors, though the issue may be a little more problematic for owners of affected cars imported used from Japan.

If owners haven't been advised, and are worried their vehicle may be part of the global recall, then look at www.recalls.govt.nz or contact the New Zealand head office of your vehicle's manufacturer.