Toyota recalls 50,000 cars for faulty airbags, offers free repairs
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The company has explained that the airbag compartment could explode and blast sharp fragments that cause injuries or could even be fatal.
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A logo of Toyota Motor Corp. is seen at its dealership in Lakewood, Colo., on March 21, 2021. (AP)
Mobile giant Toyota called on 50,000 older-model car owners to stop driving their vehicles until they get their airbag fix repaired. The call included the 2003-2004 Corolla, 2003-2004 Corolla Matrix, and 2004-2005 RAV4.
According to Toyota, older models have older airbags, which could be defective. The company explained that the airbag compartment could explode and blast sharp fragments that cause injuries or could even be fatal.
"Owners SHOULD NOT DRIVE these vehicles until the FREE safety recall repair has been conducted," Toyota stressed. It advised drivers to contact their car dealer and arrange a meeting to get the airbag department fixed.
Moreover, to encourage drivers to actually go through with the recommendation and not endanger their lives, Toyota suggested that mechanics could go to the car's location and fix it there, or the car could be towed to the dealership, at the company's expense.
The recalls came after a month of a bigger one, which targeted almost a million cars in the United States whose airbags could possibly not deploy in a car crash.
The defect includes sensors in the front passenger seat that may have been manufactured incorrectly, which could short circuit and thus prompt the airbag system to not determine the driver's correct weight and may fail to deploy in crashes.
The car companies will inspect the Occupant Classification System (OCS) sensors in the defective vehicles and replace them if needed, at no cost, as Toyota stated it will notify customers by mid-February 2024 if their cars are included.
Read next: System glitch puts Toyota's entire Japan production plants offline
The problem with Takata Airbags
The Toyota RAV4 is matched with the Takata airbag, notorious for its defects. The Corolla and Corolla Matrix were included in a different Toyota recall because their airbags could explode at any moment and do not rely on a crash to be automated.
Takata utilized ammonium nitrate when installing the airbags. The substance itself promotes minor inflation in the airbag before it deploys at the force of the crash, but it degenerates with age, warmer temperatures and if placed in a humid environment. Therefore, in case of a crash, the ammonium could cause a larger blast, which could break the compartment and splash the driver or the passenger with shrapnel.
Since May 2009, at least 26 people have been killed in the US because of the Takata airbag defects, and at least 30 were killed worldwide, mostly in Malaysia and Australia. Records also show that 400 people have been injured.
Takata has gone bankrupt in Japan as a result.
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