This Thursday, we learned that this recall also concerns the manufacturer Opel, which also belongs to the parent company Stellantis, reports The Parisian.
According to information from the French newspaper, the C4, DS4 and DS5 produced between 2009 and 2019 are also equipped with airbags from this Japanese supplier, and will therefore ultimately also be the subject of a massive recall. Some owners have already started receiving reminder letters. Stellantis does not give figures, but several hundred thousand cars are likely affected.
The manufacturer wants to be reassuring
“We are not in an emergency situation such as we are currently experiencing on C3 and DS3, where we are asking their owners to stop using their car immediately because we consider that the risk is too high. important,” indicates the manufacturer. For future recalls, it gives owners the option of driving until their airbag is changed.
Stellantis is the parent company of Opel, Citroën, DS3, but of twelve other car brands which are also equipped with Takata airbags. In total, according to calculations, more than 8 million of its vehicles will ultimately be targeted in Europe and will therefore be subject to a huge additional recall.
“The Takata airbags that equip them are not necessarily the same technology as those found in the C3 and DS3, but we prefer to exercise caution,” explains Stéphane Coquant, the vice-president in charge of recalls and crisis management at Stellantis.
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“An old affair”
The Takata airbag affair broke out in 2014.
After several serious accidents, the American authorities confirmed that the deterioration of a gas made these airbags potentially dangerous, particularly in regions with hot and humid climates.
In the event of an accident, when the airbag is triggered, small parts could be thrown and cause serious injuries.
Tens of millions of cars from many brands (Mazda, Ford, Honda, BMW) have since been recalled for airbag replacement, with a final recall announced by Nissan on Thursday.
“It’s an old business which first started in the United States, Takata told us that there was no problem” on airbags produced in Europe, Citroën director Thierry Koskas explained on Friday. on BFM Business.
Citroën had launched monitoring of airbags “by carrying out periodic tests in external laboratories”, and announced a first recall campaign in the United States at the end of 2022, then in the West Indies in 2023. The manufacturer had set aside 951 million euros for these campaigns.
But the reminders arrived too late to avoid drama.
In Guadeloupe, a total of ten investigations have been opened on charges of homicide or involuntary injuries, the public prosecutors of Pointe-à-Pitre and Basse-Terre told AFP on Friday.
They concern Citroën vehicles, but also Ford, Toyota and Nissan.
The prosecutor of Basse-Terre, Xavier Sicot, underlines the complexity of these cases, calling for “long, technical investigations with probable international dimensions”.
According to Grégory Guyard, lawyer for several families of victims, “the recall campaign worked very poorly, because Citroën only wrote to first-time buyers”. He accuses the group of having known about the problem and “acting at the bare minimum” so as to “not make waves”, he told AFP.
The situation has changed in Europe with “first incidents” in 2023, according to Mr. Koskas, and “potential cases in the Mediterranean region”, according to Stellantis, followed by a first discreet recall of vehicles in early 2024 and this larger operation in mid-May.
The replacement of airbags has since been organized in the dealer network. Stellantis, the parent company of Citroën, Peugeot and 13 other brands, will deploy nearly 60,000 courtesy vehicles throughout the month of June, including 25,000 in France.
