Mercedes-Benz C Class, Ford Mondeo and Toyota Yaris among models added to list

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

More than a million cars in Australia with potentially deadly Takata airbags have been added to a recall list by the consumer watchdog.

The defective airbags, which can shatter shards of metal upon activation when their propelling mechanism is exposed to high moisture levels, have caused 18 deaths worldwide, including one in Australia, and about 180 injuries.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on Sunday published a revised recall list that added a further 1.1m vehicles targeted for future airbag replacement, including the Mercedes-Benz C Class, Ford Mondeo and Toyota Yaris.



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The Holden Cruze, Volkswagen Gold, Audi A5 and Skoda Octavia were also added.



In late February, the Australian government ordered a recall of nearly 4m cars fitted with Takata airbags.



On Sunday the assistant minister to the treasurer, Michael Sukkar, said drivers needed to make sure their vehicle manufacturer or dealer had their contact information so they could be included in the recall. The 1.1 million drivers affected by the second stage of the recall will then be contacted by mail, email, phone or text message.

“My message to all Australian drivers is do not ignore or delay responding to a letter from your vehicle manufacturer asking you to have airbags replaced,” he said. “If you don’t have your car’s airbag replaced, you are taking a serious risk in terms of your safety.”

An ACCC spokeswoman said about 2.8m vehicles were under “active recall” at the end of April, meaning consumers had been or were being contacted. Of those, 1.9m have already had their airbags replaced, leaving 900,000 yet to be completed.

The death of a 58-year-old man at Cabramatta, in Sydney’s southwest, became the first incident linked to the faulty airbags in July 2017.

Three months earlier a 21-year-old Northern Territory woman was struck in the head by a small metal fragment when her airbag malfunctioned during a crash in Darwin.

Sukkar said drivers who experienced delays or difficulties should contact the ACCC.