Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota Vehicles Recalled over Airbag Fault

The big four Japanese car manufacturers Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota are recalling over 3.4 million vehicles around the globe due to safety fears concerning a defect in their passenger-side airbags.

Toyota is recalling 76,000 vehicles bought in the UK in the period November 2000 to March 2004 including the Corolla, Yaris, Avensis, Avensis Verso, Picnic, Camry and Lexus SC430, while Honda is recalling 15,400 UK-bought vehicles made between 2001 and 2004. Nissan said that 59,058 of its cars sold in the UK are potentially affected by the recall, including the X-Trail, Patrol, Almera, and Navara models. The recall also involves 1,913 of the Mazda 6 models bought in the UK in 2002-03.

The concern relates to front passenger air bag inflators which could have been assembled with improperly manufactured propellant wafers. Improperly manufactured propellant wafers could cause the inflator to rupture and the front passenger air bag to deploy abnormally in a crash. This could result in an increased risk of injury to the occupant.

Toyota has received five reports related to this issue, two in Japan and three in the US. Toyota has received no reports of injuries, and there have been no reports of this fault in the UK.

We can't help but admire the steps taken to alert customers and offer a free repair, and we wonder just how many other manufacturers around the World would offer such peace of mind - especially considering the majority of vehicles affected are over a decade old.

Although the fault shouldn't have existed in the first place, we salute these Japanese car manufacturers for providing such first-class customer service!

Customers will be notified of their free replacement and repair over the next 30 days.

Here's what Toyota have to say: http://blog.toyota.co.uk/toyota-announces-recall-of-76000-nine-to-13-year-old-models-in-the-uk