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Toyota Airbag Safety Recall Issues.

fattmattfattmatt
edited January 2018 in Not Sports Related
I was wondering if anyone has experienced a similar story to me and how I can best move forward??

it's a bit of a saga, so I'll explain in bullet points:

DVLA notify me that my 2002 Toyota Yaris is subject to the airbag recall.

Googled the issue and I believe that there have been several deaths and injuries caused by over exploding airbags launching metal fragments into the car. I use the car to transport my 3 daughters and for work.

November 2017 I contacted Toyota who are supposed to fix the issue free of charges.

January 2018 I am still waiting for a fix. The part MAY possibly be available sometime in March. They cannot guarantee this.

Toyota offered a courtesy car but unable to utilise this offer as their insurance does not cover my evening job business use (food delivery) .

Mid- January. Issue was escalated to Toyota GB who said that I could hire a suitable vehicle and they MAY reimburse me as a 'gesture of goodwill'. I am unwilling to do this as it could cost me £1000's

Basically, I am left with a choice of losing earnings, or continuing to drive a potentially lethal car. I have pointed this out to Toyota GB. Toyota don't seem too bothered by this.

What should I do next??

Comments

  • cafcfancafcfan
    Is this part of the infamous and massive Takata air bag issue which affects millions of vehicles? Is it just the steering wheel bag or the curtains/passenger bags too?

    Anyway "only" a few dozen people have been killed and mainly those driving Hondas. In addition, it seems that the issue was to do with high temperatures degrading the propellant. Deaths have been in places like Florida, California and Malaysia. It may be that our temperate climate will mean that they are much less likely to blow up in the UK. I haven't seen a single case reported here.

    I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just don't hit anything hard enough to trigger an airbag event!

    In the meantime, pester your dealer until they get fed up with you and shift you up the list of people awaiting replacements.
  • fattmattfattmatt
    cafcfan said:

    Is this part of the infamous and massive Takata air bag issue which affects millions of vehicles? Is it just the steering wheel bag or the curtains/passenger bags too?

    Anyway "only" a few dozen people have been killed and mainly those driving Hondas. In addition, it seems that the issue was to do with high temperatures degrading the propellant. Deaths have been in places like Florida, California and Malaysia. It may be that our temperate climate will mean that they are much less likely to blow up in the UK. I haven't seen a single case reported here.

    I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just don't hit anything hard enough to trigger an airbag event!

    In the meantime, pester your dealer until they get fed up with you and shift you up the list of people awaiting replacements.

    Yep that the saga. It's the passenger one on my car.
  • cafcdave123cafcdave123
    fattmatt said:

    I was wondering if anyone has experienced a similar story to me and how I can best move forward??

    it's a bit of a saga, so I'll explain in bullet points:

    DVLA notify me that my 2002 Toyota Yaris is subject to the airbag recall.

    Googled the issue and I believe that there have been several deaths and injuries caused by over exploding airbags launching metal fragments into the car. I use the car to transport my 3 daughters and for work.

    November 2017 I contacted Toyota who are supposed to fix the issue free of charges.

    January 2018 I am still waiting for a fix. The part MAY possibly be available sometime in March. They cannot guarantee this.

    Toyota offered a courtesy car but unable to utilise this offer as their insurance does not cover my evening job business use (food delivery) .

    Mid- January. Issue was escalated to Toyota GB who said that I could hire a suitable vehicle and they MAY reimburse me as a 'gesture of goodwill'. I am unwilling to do this as it could cost me £1000's

    Basically, I am left with a choice of losing earnings, or continuing to drive a potentially lethal car. I have pointed this out to Toyota GB. Toyota don't seem too bothered by this.

    What should I do next??

    did you buy the car brand new?

  • JohnBoyUKJohnBoyUK
    fattmatt said:

    cafcfan said:

    Is this part of the infamous and massive Takata air bag issue which affects millions of vehicles? Is it just the steering wheel bag or the curtains/passenger bags too?

    Anyway "only" a few dozen people have been killed and mainly those driving Hondas. In addition, it seems that the issue was to do with high temperatures degrading the propellant. Deaths have been in places like Florida, California and Malaysia. It may be that our temperate climate will mean that they are much less likely to blow up in the UK. I haven't seen a single case reported here.

    I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just don't hit anything hard enough to trigger an airbag event!

    In the meantime, pester your dealer until they get fed up with you and shift you up the list of people awaiting replacements.

    Yep that the saga. It's the passenger one on my car.
    Can you disable the passenger airbags on the car?
    I know you can on mine and thought it was standard on most cars so baby seats could be fitted if necessary.

    Disable airbag and patiently wait for a proper fix.
    Or am I missing something?
  • SuedeAdidasSuedeAdidas
    JohnBoyUK said:

    fattmatt said:

    cafcfan said:

    Is this part of the infamous and massive Takata air bag issue which affects millions of vehicles? Is it just the steering wheel bag or the curtains/passenger bags too?

    Anyway "only" a few dozen people have been killed and mainly those driving Hondas. In addition, it seems that the issue was to do with high temperatures degrading the propellant. Deaths have been in places like Florida, California and Malaysia. It may be that our temperate climate will mean that they are much less likely to blow up in the UK. I haven't seen a single case reported here.

    I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just don't hit anything hard enough to trigger an airbag event!

    In the meantime, pester your dealer until they get fed up with you and shift you up the list of people awaiting replacements.

    Yep that the saga. It's the passenger one on my car.
    Can you disable the passenger airbags on the car?
    I know you can on mine and thought it was standard on most cars so baby seats could be fitted if necessary.

    Disable airbag don’t crash and patiently wait for a proper fix.
    Or am I missing something?
  • KillersBeardKillersBeard
    I remember this being discussed heavily in our company and at first I wondered if Takata was a group company member, which fortunately it isn't but our Japanese have been all over it in terms of using this as an example.

    cafcfan is correct that the incidents have occurred in very hot and humid locations, mostly in America, but I think also in the Far East. The products themselves were made in Mexico, which compounded the degradation problem I believe.

    In terms of safety for you and your family, I wouldn't be overly concerned because our weather conditions are unlikely to be a contributory factor. However if you have had a recall, then the dealer is duty bound to carry it out, or at least put in writing that there is no danger to you or the occupants of your vehicle, while you wait for the fix.

    If you tell them that so far a number of top Japanese executives have been held accountable in the States, (possible prison sentences) and the cost to Takata, because of the deaths is somewhere in the 1 billion dollars mark, it may make them shift a bit.

    Good Luck.

  • TellyTubbyTellyTubby
    We had a letter over a year ago from Toyota, telling us that our yaris needed the airbag changed.

    Finally got it replaced on 23rd of this month. We didn't worry at all in the meantime, given the millions of airbags and the limited number of incidents, We simply waited our turn.

    Toyota are exemplary in dealing with safety issues and this particular problem wasn't caused by them. It has taken a long time due to the number of units and the airbag company going bust.

    Relax but chase if you are concerned.
  • fattmattfattmatt
    JohnBoyUK said:

    fattmatt said:

    cafcfan said:

    Is this part of the infamous and massive Takata air bag issue which affects millions of vehicles? Is it just the steering wheel bag or the curtains/passenger bags too?

    Anyway "only" a few dozen people have been killed and mainly those driving Hondas. In addition, it seems that the issue was to do with high temperatures degrading the propellant. Deaths have been in places like Florida, California and Malaysia. It may be that our temperate climate will mean that they are much less likely to blow up in the UK. I haven't seen a single case reported here.

    I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just don't hit anything hard enough to trigger an airbag event!

    In the meantime, pester your dealer until they get fed up with you and shift you up the list of people awaiting replacements.

    Yep that the saga. It's the passenger one on my car.
    Can you disable the passenger airbags on the car?
    I know you can on mine and thought it was standard on most cars so baby seats could be fitted if necessary.

    Disable airbag and patiently wait for a proper fix.
    Or am I missing something?
    Unfortunately, my airbags are cannot be disabled by the driver. I may push for Toyota to disable it.
  • MrOneLungMrOneLung
    I would rather take the minimal risk of being injured by a faulty airbag than the risk of driving around with an airbag disabled.
  • Dazzler21Dazzler21
    edited January 2018
    Don't trust Nissan, we got a call from them saying our car was due it's final 'in warranty' service. So we took it in. All was fine, mechanic sent a video saying the Aux belt was a bit noisy so advised he'd get us booked in to change it under warranty.

    Nissan Garage book it in, advise all under warranty, then the day before the work was due to be completed, the garage call to advise that the work is not being done under warranty and it'll cost £120 odd?

    We complain to Nissan Cared4 customer services and send the video of the mechanic and they confirm it will be done for free.

    Nissan Garage call again to book in the replacement and state the labour will be £100? The part on line is £20 so now they're trying to screw us out of another £100.

    The car was bought as an ex display model, used primarily for test drives and had 2000 miles off of the entire first years usage. It now has 23,000 miles done but is in very good condition.

    We complained again and the car is now booked in... FOC, loads of stress as Nissan wouldn't speak to me as I wasn't the owner.

    Part of me doesn't trust they'll do the work properly and as it's the family car, used by the better half for running the baby around, that scares me a bit.

    At least Toyota seem genuinely interested in sorting customers out!
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  • cafcfancafcfan
    Dazzler21 said:

    Don't trust Nissan, we got a call from them saying our car was due it's final 'in warranty' service. So we took it in. All was fine, mechanic sent a video saying the Aux belt was a bit noisy so advised he'd get us booked in to change it under warranty.

    Nissan Garage book it in, advise all under warranty, then the day before the work was due to be completed, the garage call to advise that the work is not being done under warranty and it'll cost £120 odd?

    We complain to Nissan Cared4 customer services and send the video of the mechanic and they confirm it will be done for free.

    Nissan Garage call again to book in the replacement and state the labour will be £100? The part on line is £20 so now they're trying to screw us out of another £100.

    The car was bought as an ex display model, used primarily for test drives and had 2000 miles off of the entire first years usage. It now has 23,000 miles done but is in very good condition.

    We complained again and the car is now booked in... FOC, loads of stress as Nissan wouldn't speak to me as I wasn't the owner.

    Part of me doesn't trust they'll do the work properly and as it's the family car, used by the better half for running the baby around, that scares me a bit.

    At least Toyota seem genuinely interested in sorting customers out!

    Aah, Nissan. At least with Toyota it's only an airbag. Not your chassis snapping in half like a Navara. A google search reveals plenty of scary photos but here's one.

    image
  • fattmattfattmatt
    MrOneLung said:

    I would rather take the minimal risk of being injured by a faulty airbag than the risk of driving around with an airbag disabled.

    Passenger side. Won't make a difference if no one is in passenger seat.
  • A-R-T-H-U-RA-R-T-H-U-R
    I think these airbag issues are hugely inflated.
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