Why are these airbags so dangerous?
In the 2000s, Japanese Takata began to use a new chemical agent in its airbags, ammonium nitrate. Cheaper, but sensitive to humidity, it degrades in extreme climatic conditions and can cause dangerous projections.
The writing advises you
According to the American Road Safety Agency (NHTSA), 28 deaths and at least 400 injured have so far been officially allocated to the United States to these defective airbags.
“Metal part the size of a golf ball. »»
In a report broadcast Thursday evening on France 2, a young man from the south of France shows how he received “a metal piece the size of a golf ball” in the shoulder.
What brands are concerned?
Almost all. The Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Nissan, Tesla, Ford, BMW or Ferrari groups recalled vehicles by 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 the vehicles concerned, and 6 million (9 %) remained to be replaced, the others no longer being in circulation.
Why react so late?
Takata, who has gone bankrupt since, is accused of having tried to hide the problem for a long time. In the report released Thursday on France 2, former Autoliv engineers, a competitor of Takata, claim that the Japanese group could not ignore the dangerousness of ammonium nitrate.
Honda, the first customer of the equipment supplier (18 million airbags concerned), launched a recall in 2008, but it was not until 2014 that the case broke out when the NHTSA seizes the file, after A series of accidents.
According to Stellantis (which notably owns the Citroën brand), Takata had assured that there was “no problem” on the airbags produced in Europe. The manufacturer explains having launched airbag monitoring with tests and announced a first reminder campaign in the Antilles in 2019.
-Why is Citroën at the heart of the scandal?
Stellantis was one of the only manufacturers (with Ford and Mazda in the United States) to launch a “stop drive” in May 2024, after several serious accidents: he asked the owners of his very popular Citroën C3 and DS 3 in the South of Europe to no longer drive as long as vehicles are not repaired, as a precaution. He has already had 400,000 vehicles repaired in this context.
Tuesday, Stellantis launched a second campaign concerning 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 South region”.
Why is the overseas territories concerned?
In France, 29 accidents linked to these airbags were identified, provoking 11 deaths overseas and one in mainland France, according to the Ministry of Transport. The chemical agent present in airbags is very bad in hot and humid climates.
Volkswagen also launched in January 2025 a “Stop Drive” campaign overseas after the death of a motorist. These measures were essential because the pace of repairs observed overseas with the simple recall campaigns “was not sufficient”, underlined the Ministry of Transport to AFP.
What about la justice?
The French authority which controls the conformity of vehicles (SSMVM) asked in December 2024 to the manufacturers to provide an exhaustive list of the vehicles concerned. Judicial information was opened in 2024 in Guadeloupe and Guyana for “manslaughter”.
“Unacceptable industrial and institutional laxity. »»
Lawyer Charles-Henri Coppet, who represents six families of deceased, requests the establishment of a single instruction on the file. “Justice has taken time to understand the magnitude” of the file, he said. “Have the manufacturers chose to equip their vehicles knowingly? »»
Another lawyer, Christophe Lèguevaques, brought together 2,000 motorists to launch a collective action against Stellantis, and a consumer association, UFC-Que Choisir, also announced to file a complaint, so that “consumers cease to be the victims of a unacceptable industrial and institutional laxity ”.
In the United States, agreements between the complainants and the manufacturers have allowed the payment of $ 500 compensation per motorist.
Related News :