C3, C4, DS3, DS4, DS5… Stellantis should recall 8 million vehicles in Europe due to the defective airbag crisis.
The defective airbag scandal turns into a major crisis for Stellantis. The automobile group is expected to recall eight million vehicles in Europe, according to Le Parisien, a figure that BFM Business is able to confirm. After a little more than 500,000 C3s and DS3s already targeted by a recall in May, C4, DS4 and DS5 and cars from the Opel brand would now be added.
Last May, Stellantis recalled 530,000 C3s and DS3s around the world. A “stop driving” recall, according to the term used by the Franco-Italian-American manufacturer, which asked all drivers of C3 and DS3 models produced between the years 2009 and 2019 to immediately stop driving their vehicle, under risk of suffering serious or even fatal injuries.
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Today, this campaign has not expanded. But the group should carry out another recall campaign, less critical. Without asking its customers to immediately stop driving their vehicle, Stellantis will tell them to go and replace their airbags, which in fact have a construction defect, even if the risk is limited. This recall concerns eight million vehicles.
Provision of 951 million euros
This concerns all cars from the group’s brands which are still equipped with airbags manufactured by the Japanese equipment manufacturer Takata. The latter, which went bankrupt, is responsible for more than 100 million car recalls worldwide since the 2000s. A Source within Stellantis explains to us that there is perhaps no risk today. today in all cars equipped with Takata airbags, but that there may be one tomorrow. In other words, the uncertainty is total.
For the moment, Stellantis is not communicating on these “technical” recalls, but the manufacturer will undoubtedly quickly say more given the scale of the crisis. In its 2023 annual report, the group indicated that it had deployed a “Takata budget” and provisioned 951 million euros for recall campaigns.
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The case of defective airbags also takes a legal turn. At the initiative of a Toulouse lawyer, a collective action was launched for the customers concerned, considering that the company had known about the problem with Takata airbags for a long time and was slow to react.
Justine Vassogne with Jérémy Bruno
