Chilling testimonies. This Sunday, June 16, in Sept à Huit, presented by Harry Roselmack, viewers were able to discover difficult stories. Starting with the first report on the victims from Odessa, Ukraine. Following these broken destinies, the show continues with another subject, which tells the story of new lives devastated, but on a completely different subject: technical failures that led to death.
Indeed, six people have lost their lives in France due to defective airbags from Citroën and DS. The affected models would be C3 and DS3 manufactured between 2009 and 2019. On May 3, 2024, the supplier Stellentis recalled 240 owners but this problem could affect many more vehicles. These airbags were made by a Japanese supplier called Takata. In Guadeloupe, one of the victims was disfigured. At the time, Raïssa was driving her car with her daughter in the back seat. A car hits them and the airbags go off. “I heard a loud bang and I felt that my face was burning a lot,” she confided. His daughter was in shock: “I just saw that his face was torn apart. It looked like it was a gunshot to the face.” The mother underwent emergency surgery, part of her face was shattered. During the operation, the doctors discovered a piece of metal: it was a piece of the airbag mechanism which exploded when it deployed. According to initial investigations, this airbag model deteriorates after prolonged exposure of the car to heat and humidity.
Harry Roselmack’s minute
An insufficient response from the company?
12 victims were identified in the overseas departments, at least seven injured and five deaths between 2018 and 2023. After one death in 2019, Stellentis management indicated that it would send a letter to five departments from 2020 but none no injunction to no longer drive the vehicle has been made. According to Thierry Koskas, general manager of Citroën, “asking to stop driving the vehicle is a completely exceptional measure, it is not the rule”. According to him, the number of deaths is not the question. On X, Internet users are stunned by this lack of reaction. Many also said they were now afraid of taking their car.
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