Airbag recall drives up business for motor industry
The motor industry has been flat-tack since the New Zealand government announced a compulsory recall for faulty Takata airbags just over two weeks ago.
The airbags, installed in 50,000 New Zealand new and imported cars, have the potential to deploy with explosive force and have killed 23 people internationally.
Toyota parts and service general manager Spencer Morris said they had brought in more staff since April 5 to deal with the workload.
“Our call centre would normally have around about 100 enquiries on the go, but right now we’re ten times that - so we’re nearly at 1000.”
He said the actual number of vehicles with potentially dangerous airbags had been a moving target, as more makes and models came to light.
About 250,000 other cars installed with less-risky Takata airbags fall under a voluntary recall.
“For the Alpha airbags we have got enough stock to do those repairs, the focus right now is on the Alpha type but anyone that’s got a potentially faulty airbag that needs to be replaced, we’ll do that. We won’t push them to one side just because it’s a non-Alpha type,” said Mr Morris.
David Livington works on the ground at Capital City Motors, a Mazda dealership in Wellington.
He said staff there had been flat out. “If we need to pick vehicles up we’re doing that, if we need to drop vehicles off we’re also doing that, if a loan vehicle is appropriate then we do that as well.”
He said customers had to wait between five and ten days for an appointment. Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford said he was not surprised everyone was busy. However, the heat on manufacturer’s call centres could be eased if the government’s recall website was clearer. “The government’s recall websites aren’t properly configured the right way to make that an easy transaction. At the moment, it’s not possible to enter your registration plate and then get some information as to whether it’s subject to the recall or not, that would be ideal.”
He said it was an issue that was being worked on.Mr Crawford also said apart from customer turnover, there had been a lot of behind the scenes work keeping other parts of the industry busy.He said working out who was actually fronting the cost for these replacements took time.
“Under our consumer legislation, the importer who actually imports the vehicle is deemed to be the manufacturer and they have the responsibility. “But how it’s working out is that the New Zealand distributor, who represents the manufacturers in the first instance, is attempting to pick up the tab so there’s a lot of behind the scenes work going on to ensure the behind the scenes work is being shared between the new and used sectors.”
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment heads the recall, but has not got figures yet on how many more cars are still to go. A spokesperson said a system was being developed to track the progress and would show data on the number of cars booked in for repair and recall completions.
The Minister responsible, Kris Faafoi, said the recalls website has had 1.5 million views since the announcement was made.He said an airbag oversight group had been set up and would be in charge of making sure the recall was on track.