Australia announced the compulsory recall of 2.3 million vehicles Wednesday due to problems with faulty Takata airbags that have caused at least 23 deaths worldwide. The government intervention - one of the country's biggest ever consumer recalls - follows consultations with affected manufacturers and industry stakeholders.
It affects vehicles made by Ford, GM Holden, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda. Similar action has taken place around the world. "The compulsory recall will capture approximately 2.3 million vehicles that still have a defective airbag that needs replacement," said assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar.
"Absolute priority will be given to replacing alpha airbags, which pose an immediate and critical safety risk." Given the scale of the task, suppliers have until the end of December 2020 to progressively replace all defective airbags made by the Japanese group. A total of four million vehicles in Australia are affected. Some have already been voluntarily recalled by manufacturers, with Wednesday's action concerning those that have yet to be fixed. An investigation by Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission found that Takata airbag inflators without a desiccant - a drying agent - or with a calcium sulphate desiccant had a design flaw.
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