Each owner has their story. But all the individual stories collected by The world converging: the recall, in France (with immobilization request), of 250,000 Citroën C3 and DS3 vehicles equipped with potentially defective airbags from the Japanese brand Takata resulted in vast chaos.
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Recurring difficulties registering on the digital platform set up by Stellantis; dealers overwhelmed, unaware or dragging their feet; letters as late as they are anxiety-provoking and lack of alternative solutions and financial compensation for those who use their vehicles daily… The testimonies of the victims of operation C3, mainly located in the south of the country, under a Clermont-Ferrand – Lyon line, give the image of customers forced to deal with the unexpected need to suddenly stop their car.
Some have done quite well, like Marie-Clémence Balle, who lives between Manosque and Saint-Martin-de-Brômes, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. “My airbags were replaced in three weeks… When I hear that, for other drivers, the delay can reach several months, I measure my luck”she notes.
For this tonic septuagenarian, however, everything has not been simple. When, on May 15, a registered letter asked him to “immediately stop using your vehicle”, She panics. Being able to use your 2010 C3 is a necessity in this Alpine department poorly served by public transport.
“Modernization of[u] vehicle “
The letter from the manufacturer – which strangely begins with ” Dear Sir “ – specifies that the airbags of his car can deteriorate and expose the driver and passengers to a risk “likely to cause serious injury or death”. “It was terribly anxiety-inducing”, she says. Without any other solution, this retired trader continues, despite everything, to drive. “But as little as possible. For three weeks I drove like in The Wages of Fear. At each speed bump, I was terrified »she explains, evoking the film in which Yves Montand transports nitroglycerin by truck.
Like several thousand people, Marie-Clémence Balle received a two-page standard letter signed by the “parts and services department” of Citroën, with a QR code and an Internet address giving access to a registration page. There, you must enter the 17 digits of your car’s serial number. “I preferred to call customer service and I found someone who, obviously, was not informed of anything and asked me to read them the content of my letter. » Many users also tell us what happens next: a complex digital procedure which gets stuck for no reason and which has to be re-edited several times before it succeeds.
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