By now, you would be familiar with the Takata airbag recall issue – the Japanese parts maker’s airbags have been the focus of a series of massive recalls since 2008, involving over 17 million vehicles worldwide, according to Reuters.
The recalls involve improperly-manufactured airbag inflators – in a crash, the inflator could rupture and cause, in extreme cases, metal shards from the airbag casing to be sprayed at the occupants, potentially maiming or killing them.
The flawed part has been linked to at least four deaths in the US and a considerable number of injuries. Initially, the component in question was the front passenger airbag inflator, but lately it has emerged that a Malaysian, travelling in a 2003 Honda City that contained a defective airbag, was killed in a collision in July, and it was the driver’s airbag inflator that ruptured, sending shrapnel flying inside the car.
The Malaysian incident is not only the first related death outside the US, but also the first to involve the driver’s airbag.
Reports suggest that the root cause of the problem is the airbag propellant, the substance that is ignited and burns extremely quickly to create a huge volume of gas to inflate the bag. Exposure to moisture – prevalent in humid climates like ours – can cause the propellants to become unstable, detonating with excessive force during a collision.
Reuters reports that Takata has changed the chemical composition of its airbag propellant, although ammonium nitrate – considered volatile – is still in the mix. Competitors Autoliv and TRW Automotive are reported to use less-volatile guanidine nitrate as the main ingredient.
While Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, BMW, Chrysler and General Motors have all issued worldwide recalls relating to this, only Toyota, Honda and Nissan have so far officially called back vehicles for airbag issues in Malaysia.
If you own any of the cars in the list below, it is absolutely vital that you send them in to be checked as soon as possible.
UMW Toyota (April 2013) – approx 18,700 units involved, affected models:
- 2000-2003 Toyota Corolla Altis
- 2000-2003 Toyota Camry
Call 1-800-88-69682 for more information.
Lines are open 8.00 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday (except public holidays).
Edaran Tan Chong Motor (April 2013) – four units involved, affected model:
- CBU (fully-imported) first-gen Nissan X-Trail
Call 1-800-88-3838 for more information.
Lines are open 24 hours, seven days a week.
Honda Malaysia (June 2014) – number of units involved not disclosed, affected models:
- 2001-2003 Honda Stream
- 2002-2003 Honda Jazz
- 2003 Honda City
- 2003 Honda Accord
Call 1-800-88-2020 for more information.
Lines are open 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday (except public holidays).
Honda Malaysia (November 2014) – 15,734 units involved, affected models:
- 2003-2004 Honda City (15,612 units)
- 2004 Honda Jazz (122 units)
Call 1-800-88-2020 for more information.
Lines are open 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday (except public holidays).
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Do Korean cars of same years (including assembled in Malaysia) use the same airbag? Appreciate comment from anyone. Tq.
As far as I know, the affected airbags are produced by TAKATA Japan in their US factory, around year 2003.
I don’t think Korea is using TAKATA airbags. Plus they would have issued recalls by now if they did. Because this is serious stuff; one lady in Malaysia already got killed, and some others around the world.
Jonathan Tan,
Is the list you provided a comprehensive list of all the Makes, or just the models affecting Honda, Toyota and Nissan ?
I suspect your list is not comprehensive, pls advise
At this point in time, only the following Honda, Toyota and Nissan vehicles are affected in the Malaysian market.
Chrysler, Ford, Mitsubishi and Mazda too are affected, but Chrysler was not sold in Malaysia, the only the Ford Mustang, Ford GT and Ford Ranger was recalled (only the Ford Ranger was sold in Malaysia, but at the time, the Ranger we got did not have airbags). The only Mitsubishi Lancer which was affected was the 2004-2005 Lancer, which again, not sold in Malaysia (if I am not mistaken).
As for the Mazdas, the 2004-06 Mazda6 and MazdaSpeed6 was recalled but those are the ones made in the US, our Mazda6 was Japanese built, and the MazdaSpeed6 was not sold here. The RX8 2004-2007 is interesting because it was the same Japanese built ones that were affected. The Mazda MPV 2004 also is recalled in the US, we got it as the Premacy, again like the RX8, we too got it from Japan.
The E46 3 series was also recalled, but I think ours are not affected, potentially because ours were built locally, however again, there would have been some of the CBU units that came from the same German factory.
Again, there is a can of worms here. This is from the US list, so far. I’ve not seen a list of the euro market cars that have been affected, and actually, many of our cars are euro market or Australian/Asian market cars, also, local production would mean that some of the models may not use the same airbags made in the US plant.
Unfortunately there is no list of car models that use Takata bags at this point in time, so we won’t be able to easily check if our cars are affected.
Don’t worry. Nothing will be done eventually. In other countries, Government will intervene and make the car companies replace the ABS but in Malaysia, Government literally own every car company in Malaysia.
Toyota – UMW
Honda – DRB
BMW- Sime Darby
Hyundai – Sime Darby
etc
etc
etc
So, government don’t care. If car companies replace airbags for you, Government will rugi eventually. Go and do a search, government practically owns every car company in Malaysia.
That is why they don’t want to reduce car prices.
went to a honda showroom today. honda saleslady telling me cheaper version of city better cos less airbags…less airbags less chance of getting killed wont get suffocated 0.0.
It’s a scandal!
recall after 10 years!
Japan maker used to be most trustworthy part manufacturer.
Dissapointed on this issues.
If never found by US,
No recall will be raised.
Yea, Proton salesman used to tell me Saga BLM also no airbag. No need worry this and that.
The best Proton ya!
Saga blm ady old. Iris comes with VSC. Why Vios dun have? Why why why????????
ignorance is bliss
lol Toyota and Honda.. where to put face now?
where to put face ? Does calling means shame ?
They recall it back because of their *Responsibility* although majority of the car from 2000-2003 which is kinda old already
So the conclusion is , shame on the company that never do any recall although rosak sana sini ex. power window , gear and more ..
Usually recalls is related to major safety items, such as brake system, air bags, short circuits, steering system, and such.
Other issues not related to safety are repaired or replaced during scheduled servicing.
i believe p1 and p2 hav the responsibilty to inform us where they source their airbags from….jus to erase any doubts…
proton mostly use autoliv products for srs. The latest iriz using airbag from Taiwan supplier.
my golden advice . got money buy bmw/merc , no money but proton/perodua . just avoid those japan/Korean car .(invaluable)
They didn’t see this coming. I bet Autoliv, Toyoda Gosei, GSK and the rest of airbag supplier didn’t see this coming as well.
If you read carefully in the article did mention that
“Exposure to moisture – prevalent in humid climates like ours – can cause the propellants to become unstable, detonating with excessive force during a collision.”
Exposure to moisture in this context means that the airbag is exposed to moisture for very long time i.e 10 years before the pellets inside inflator become unstable.
What I know is airbag supplier did aging test by salt spray test only (they made the airbag module corroded faster by applying salt and heat and do deployment test
to simulate deployment after the car is on road 10 years, to verify that the airbag still can function even after heavily corroded) and did not include moisture as an
element to evaluate aging test.
If only Takata airbag is having this problem then maybe because the recipe they used for the inflator as part of kaizen is different from others.
Maybe not only 2002-2003 batch, after this all Takata airbags will need to change after 10 years if they keep continue using ammonium nitrate in their inflator until now (provided
the theory of using ammonium nitrate contribute to this malfunction is proven).
It is ironic when the thing meant to save people kill people instead.
wonder where’s that sam whatever guy now.
Will never buy a Japanese car. They make car merely for profit not for passion.
Oh Gosh! Luckily My Honda City isn’t in the list, my honda is the 2006 model. But i thought Japanese car is safe or we say can put trust onto the Honda company. No wonder my friend’s 03′ Honda City had end up with an accident. But his head was injured badly, had recovered. It’s really shock when i heard these Japan cars had air bag problem. What do you think guys?
No difference with Korean car suddenly accelerate without doing anything.
Additionally, most of the Modern Korean cars’ bumper does not absorb the force in the crash. Hence airbag is no longer functioning.
That’s why they kept changing the design of the bumper.
And this test is from Korea, I translated some from one of the report that hidden from media.
Hi all sifus. Recently I am planning to get a used 3rd gen City type E with peddle shift, year made 2011. Please confirm if VSA is not available for this version? Also the airbag accident involved 2nd gen City last year really freak us out and shaken my confident towards Honda City now. Should I go ahead with the purchase?
Read more: http://paultan.org/2009/02/05/2009-honda-city-first-drive-impressions-review/#ixzz3P3MF7jQ5