Faulty airbags lead to largest recall ever

Takata inflators linked to six deaths worldwide, but no action planned by Transport Canada

One day after the U.S.’s auto safety regulator issued the largest consumer recall in history, Transport Canada says that it has no plans to follow suit.

According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), airbag inflators made by Japanese autoparts giant Takata can blast out sharp metal projectiles. The inflators, which have been linked to six deaths worldwide and more than 100 injuries, are found in vehicles manufactured by nearly a dozen automakers. As such, nearly 34 million vehicles across the U.S. were declared defective on Tuesday.

“Transport Canada has received no complaints related to this issue from Canadians, and is not aware of any incidents having taken place in Canada,” Transport Canada spokeswoman Mélany Gauvin said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

“In Canada, vehicle manufacturers are responsible for carrying out notice of defect (recall) campaigns and must notify Transport Canada when they become aware of safety defects. To date, we have not received notice of any recall expansions.”

Several automakers’ Canadian offices have said they’re investigating the matter.

“We’re reviewing the information,” Eric Mayne, a spokesman with the FCA group, which manufactures affected Chrysler and Fiat vehicles, said on Wednesday. “But I can tell you this: we’ve had no malfunctions in Canada.”

To lawyer and former Saskatchewan MPP Tony Merchant, whose Merchant LLP Law Group filed $2.4-billion classaction lawsuits against Takata in December 2014, by leaving the decision to issue recalls in automakers’ hands, Transport Canada is not doing enough to protect Canadians.

“Our whole product safety world in Canada is pedestrian, inactive and not nearly as effective as similar bodies in the United States — and they don’t even seem embarrassed about it,” he says. “The air- bags explode like a grenade and you have shrapnel exploding into your face.”

In light of this latest recall, Merchant expects the class action to grow to $3.5 billion. Other class-action lawsuits have already been filed in Windsor, Ont., British Columbia and across the U.S.

According to the Washington Post, Takata supplies an estimated 30 per cent of the world’s airbags. Defective Takata parts, the Post says, have been found in numerous car and truck models since 2010.

Tuesday’s expanded recall in the U.S. encompasses vehicles manufactured by BMW, Chrysler, Daimler Trucks, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota. Several of these automakers have already recalled 17 million vehicles with Takata parts in the U.S. and more than 36 million worldwide.

Replacing the faulty parts is already proving to be a costly logistical nightmare.

Although vehicles listed in the NHTSA recall can be found on Canadian roads, automakers’ Canadian offices have yet to announce similar recalls.

“Many of these inflators have already been included in previous Honda safety improvement campaigns or recalls,” Honda spokesperson Alen Sadeh said in a written statement on Tuesday. “To date, Honda is not aware of any reported claims of injuries or deaths in Canada relating to a ruptured airbag inflator of any Takata produced airbag in a Honda or Acura vehicle.”

Nissan Canada, however, claims that vehicles with faulty inflators were already in the process of being recalled before the NHTSA’s announcement Tuesday. That recall has affected 152,828 vehicles nationwide.

“Nissan is currently analyzing the information from Takata and will continue to confer with NHTSA,” a spokesperson said. “Nissan’s primary focus, as always, is on the safety of our customers.”

Other automakers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Car owners are encouraged to check their vehicles on manufacturers’ websites or Transport Canada’s recalls database. With files from the Washington Post and Bloomberg