Toyota recall hundreds of thousands of cars due to faulty airbag issue

Toyota has recalled hundreds of thousands of cars in the UK after a defect was discovered affecting airbags.
Toyota has recalled hundreds of thousands of its cars over an airbag issueToyota has recalled hundreds of thousands of its cars over an airbag issue
Toyota has recalled hundreds of thousands of its cars over an airbag issue

The company has announced a recall of 15 million cars worldwide, with 160,000 in the UK, across a range of models.

The recall is in response to an issue with the airbags where the inflator has not been manufactured properly by company Takata.

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In the event of a crash, this means the driver and passenger airbags may inflate abnormally.

Defect Details

“On affected vehicles the drivers front airbag inflator could produce excessive internal pressure.

“If an affected airbag deploys the increased internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture.

“In the event of an inflator rupture metal fragments could be propelled into the passenger compartment potentially causing injury to a vehicle occupant.”

Letter to customers

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A letter from Toyota sent to customers regarding recalling her Toyota Yaris, states that it is ‘currently in the process of acquiring a sufficient number of replacement parts’ to replace the airbag inflators.

A spokesman from Toyota said that recalls have been issued in the past for vehicles older than seven years old.

He said: “The cause of this abnormal deployment is the subject of multiple investigations by Toyota and others, including the industry-wide joint testing initiative.

“Various hypotheses are being explored and the findings will be announced as soon as the root cause is positively identified.

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“When we are made aware of a potential issue then we remedy this. We know it provides reassurance to Toyota owners that we take action if issues are identified that affect customer safety.

“We have processes in place to collate data and depending on the type of issue this can take longer to identify particularly if this occurs under specific circumstances such as an airbag deployment.

“However, once aware then we respond responsibly.”

More information is available by calling Toyota on 0844 701 6202 or visit the Recall Checker page at Toyota UK’s website.

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