According to the US Highway Safety Agency (NHTSA), 28 deaths and at least 400 injuries have so far been officially attributed in the United States to these defective airbags.
AFP
Faulty airbags from the manufacturer Takata have caused the death of numerous motorists and caused the recall of millions of cars, as currently for the French brand Citroën in Europe. But since the scandal exploded in 2014, some manufacturers have been slow to react.
Why are these airbags dangerous?
In the 2000s, the Japanese company Takata began using a new chemical agent, ammonium nitrate, in its airbags. Less expensive, but sensitive to humidity, it degrades in extreme weather conditions and can cause dangerous projections. According to the US Highway Safety Agency (NHTSA), 28 deaths and at least 400 injuries have so far been officially attributed in the United States to these defective airbags.
In a report broadcast Thursday evening on the French television channel France 2a young man from the south of France shows how he received “a metal piece the size of a golf ball” in the shoulder.
Which brands are affected?
Almost all of them. The Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Nissan, Tesla, Ford, BMW and Ferrari groups have recalled vehicles by the tens of millions to change their airbags. As of May 3, 2024, 45.6 million airbags had been replaced in the United States, or 69% of affected vehicles, and 6 million (9%) remained to be replaced, the others no longer in circulation.
Why react so late?
Takata, which has since gone bankrupt, is accused of long attempts to cover up the problem. In the report broadcast Thursday on France 2former engineers from Autoliv, a competitor of Takata, affirm that the Japanese group could not ignore the dangerousness of ammonium nitrate.
Honda, the equipment manufacturer’s first customer (18 million airbags concerned), launched a recall in 2008, but it was not until 2014 that the affair came to light when the NHTSA took up the matter, after a series of accidents.
According to Stellantis (which notably owns the Citroën brand), Takata assured that there was “no problem” with airbags produced in Europe. The manufacturer explains that it has launched airbag monitoring with tests and announced a first recall campaign in the Antilles in 2019.
-Why is Citroën at the heart of the scandal?
Stellantis was one of the only manufacturers (along with Ford and Mazda in the United States) to launch a “stop drive” in May 2024, after several serious accidents: it asked the owners of its very popular Citroën C3 and DS3 in the southern Europe to stop driving until the vehicles are repaired, as a precaution. It has already repaired 400,000 vehicles in this context.
On Tuesday, Stellantis launched a second campaign covering all of Europe – more than 869,000 vehicles including 400,000 in France – but without “stop drive”, judging the risk “considerably lower than in the southern region”.
Why are overseas countries so concerned?
In France, 29 accidents linked to these airbags have been recorded, causing 11 deaths overseas and one in mainland France, according to the Ministry of Transport. The chemical agent in airbags ages very poorly in hot, humid climates.
Volkswagen also launched a “stop drive” campaign overseas in January 2025 after the death of a motorist. These measures were necessary, because the rate of repairs observed overseas with simple recall campaigns “was not sufficient”, underlined the Ministry of Transport to theAFP.
What about justice?
The French authority which controls the conformity of vehicles (the SSMVM) asked manufacturers in December 2024 to provide an exhaustive list of vehicles concerned. Judicial investigations were opened in 2024 in Guadeloupe and Guyana for “involuntary homicides”. Lawyer Charles-Henri Coppet, who represents six families of deceased people, requests the establishment of a single instruction on the file. “Justice took time to understand the extent” of the case, he stressed to theAFP. “Have manufacturers consciously chosen to equip their vehicles?”
Another lawyer, Christophe Lèguevaques, brought together 2,000 motorists to launch collective action against Stellantis, and a consumer association, UFC-Que Choisir, also announced it was filing a complaint so that “consumers stop being victims of a unacceptable industrial and institutional laxity.” In the United States, agreements between plaintiffs and manufacturers allowed the payment of $500 in compensation per motorist.
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(afp/er)
