Equipment produced by the now bankrupt Takata was used by 15 automakers; find out how to check if your vehicle should be recalled
There are 2,586,758 cars with proven defective airbags in Brazil. The data comes from Senacon (National Consumer Secretariat), an agency linked to the Ministry of Justiceand refer to vehicles fitted with safety equipment from the Japanese brand Takata.
The recall – a request for the return of an entire line of products made by the manufacturer itself – was initiated in 2013, after it was proven that Takata used a compound that can become explosive due to heat and humidity and cause strong explosions from the device that aims to save the lives of drivers and passengers.
The problem has affected around 100 million vehicles worldwide, with approximately 5.9 million in Brazil. Despite being an old problem, almost half of Brazilians with faulty equipment have not yet replaced the equipment, which should be done free of charge by the car manufacturer. According to the program Fantastic from TV Globo, 7 people died in the country due to a malfunctioning Takata airbag.
At least 15 car manufacturers operating in Brazil took part in the equipment recall campaign. See the list below:
- Audi
- BMW
- Chevrolet
- Chrysler
- Ferrari
- Fiat
- Ford
- Mitsubishi
- Mercedes
- Jeep
- Ram
- Subaru
- Renault
- Nissan
- Volvo
- Volkswagen
- Toyota
- Honda
Despite the high number of vehicles that were not recalled, it is inaccurate to say that all of these vehicles are still on the road in the country, as it is not possible to identify whether each car with Tanaka airbags is still in use. Since the equipment has been in use since the early 2000s, it is possible that some older vehicles have already been scrapped.
Takata declared bankruptcy in 2017 and the airbag scandal was the main factor in the company’s demise. In the US, the Japanese company was ordered to pay a fine of over US$1 billion, as around 20 million vehicles in the country used the airbag.
To regulate the efficiency of the recall, the Senatran (National Traffic Secretariat) determines that recall campaigns, when not responded to within 1 year, must be included in the vehicle’s CRLV (Digital Traffic Card), in order to prevent annual licensing until the recall is responded to.
On the Senatran website, you can also check whether a vehicle has an open recall. To do this, you must access the page recall of the agency and inform the license plate or chassis number of the car.
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