The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned motorists to stop being complacent about replacing deadly Takata airbags in their vehicles.
The Commission has released State-by-State data detailing recall rates for the airbags, and the first data showing progress made by various vehicle manufacturers in removing them from cars.
The ACCC said that one year since it began overseeing the Takata airbag recall, 1.8 million airbags still need replacing as part of the compulsory recall.
It said that during the past 12 months, 1.1 million faulty Takata airbags had been replaced in around 930,000 vehicles.
Deputy Chair of the ACCC, Delia Rickard said despite good progress, motorists should not be complacent about having airbags replaced.
“Don’t ignore or delay responding to a letter or call from your car’s manufacturer asking you to have your airbag replaced,” Ms Rickard said.
“The airbags degrade over time and can become lethal by miss-deploying and firing metal shards at the car’s occupants.”
She said the most dangerous airbags, known as Alpha airbags, were fitted to about 115,000 cars, with around 19,500 still potentially on the roads.
“These airbags require urgent replacement and drivers should not drive cars containing these airbags until they have been fixed,” Ms Rickard said.
She welcomed the launch of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ national consumer awareness campaign.
Ms Rickard said the Chamber’s website provided an easy place to enter a car’s number plate to check whether it is affected.
This month marks the first anniversary since the ACCC’s Takata Taskforce began its safety investigation.
