Big response to Takata airbag recall

WELLINGTON: Hundreds of thousands of New Zealand drivers have checked whether their car is affected by a nationwide recall of 50,000 vehicles in the last three days.

The NZ Transport Agency’s recalls website has been visited 1.3 million times by more than 200,000 unique users since Wednesday, when the Government announced the compulsory recall of all cars fitted with a faulty Takata airbag.

Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said the high online traffic was an encouraging first step, but he wanted to see the momentum carried through to people actually taking their cars in to have the airbags replaced.

Over the three days before the Government’s announcement, about 1300 people had checked the website.

That number ballooned to nearly 214,000 in the period from Wednesday to Friday afternoon, according to figures provided by the minister’s office.

A voluntary recall for Takata airbags has been in place since 2013 but the Government said it was not making enough progress.

The spike in numbers since Wednesday’s announcement was ‘‘very promising’’, Mr Faafoi said.

‘‘I think the message through to people.’’

In a little over a month the Government will enact a ban on faulty airbags coming into New Zealand, which will contribute to phasing out the dangerous parts entirely.

An oversight group including representatives from the Ministry of Innovation, Employment and Business, the NZTA and Customs as well as industry

is getting representatives would be keeping a close eye on how many people were engaging with the recall, Faafoi said.

Manufacturers and importers have 18 months to close out repairs on affected vehicles.

If that timeframe was drawing closer and the numbers of replacements were low, Mr Faafoi said he would be looking at ways to speed the process up again.

About 100 million vehicles have been supplied worldwide with affected Takata airbags. There have been 19 reported fatalities and about 200 incidents where Takata airbags have not deployed correctly.

There have not been any fatal accidents involving the airbags in New Zealand.

The NZTA website says repair costs for both parts and labour should be picked up by the vehicle supplier. — NZME