Recall hits 2.3m cars

MORE than 2.3 million cars will today be hit with Australia’s first compulsory vehicle recall order as the Turnbull Government moves to protect drivers and passengers at risk from exploding airbags.

The Government will announce the unprecedented step amid serious concerns that defective airbags in many brands of popular cars can shoot shards of metal into the faces of drivers and passengers.

Two in every seven cars on Australia’s roads have defective Takata airbags, which have been linked to more than 23 deaths and 230 injuries.

Manufacturers of popular cars, including Ford, Holden and Volkswagen, must replace the airbags free of charge and “as quickly as possible”.