A<\/span>ustralia<\/strong> on Wednesday issued a compulsory recall for all 2.7 million cars fitted with defective Takata airbags in an effort to lift the auto industry\u2019s mixed efforts to fix the fault blamed for at least 23 deaths around the world.<\/p>\n Vehicle suppliers must recall and replace all the airbags in Australia by the end of 2020, with priority given to the most dangerous because of their design, age or the level of humidity in their environment, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer Michael Sukkar said.<\/p>\n \u201cTragically there has been one death and one case of serious injury in Australia as a result of the deployment of these airbags and the government just doesn\u2019t want to see anymore,\u201d Sukkar told reporters.<\/p>\n Takata\u2019s airbag problem has resulted in 100 million recalls worldwide and forced the Japanese company into bankruptcy protection. The Australian government said at least 23 deaths and more than 230 serious injuries had been associated with the airbag defects.<\/p>\n Sukkar said the problem was considered acute in northern Australia due to its humid and hot climate. Such conditions are a known factor in the air bag\u2019s dangers and the deaths have occurred mainly in the summer in the southern United States and in tropical Malaysia.<\/p>\n The chemical propellant in the airbag inflators can deteriorate in hot, humid conditions and burn too fast, blowing apart a metal canister and creating shrapnel.<\/p>\n While some manufacturers had recalled more than 80 percent of the airbags in Australia, some were as low as 36 percent.<\/p>\n Globally, many manufacturers have been slow to replace the potentially deadly inflators. A report by an independent monitor said that as of Sept. 15, 2017, automakers had replaced only 43 percent since Takata recalls began in 2001.<\/p>\n Under the compulsory recall order, the government will be able to name manufacturers who are falling behind from July. Failure to comply with the order carries a potential fine of 1.1 million Australian dollars ($860,000) per breach.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the concerns has been the divergence we\u2019ve seen among manufacturers as to how actively they\u2019ve sought to notify … consumers with potential problems with their airbags,\u201d Sukkar said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as reluctance goes, again it\u2019s been very much a mixed bag. If you look at some of the manufacturers, they really use best endeavors. There are other manufacturers who didn\u2019t show the same diligence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Rod Sims, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the consumer watchdog that recommended the recall, said some manufacturers within the voluntary recall have done a bad job.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve been slow to communicate, slow to get the parts in and slow to replace airbags and sometimes said things to consumers that were unfortunate, like: \u2018Come back in a year\u2019s time and, by the way, in the meantime don\u2019t drive the car,\u2019\u201d Sims said.<\/p>\n National Roads and Motorists\u2019 Association spokesman Peter Khoury, an Australian motorists advocate, said the compulsory recall was long overdue.<\/p>\n \u201cThis recall has been going on for a number of years, it\u2019s clearly too long and it is absolutely vital that we get these car fixed by the deadline set by the Australian government at the end of 2020, but certainly preferably well before that,\u201d Khoury said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has absolutely taken far too long to reach this stage. When you have airbags killing people globally, that is something that needs to be addressed immediately,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n MEDLEY, FL – MAY 22, 2017: A deployed airbag is seen in a 2001 Honda Accord ATAthe LKQ Pick Your Part salvage yard on May 22, 2015 in Medley, Florida. The largest automotive recall in history centers around the defective Takata Corp. airbags that are found in millions of vehicles that are manufactured by BMW,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[91,47,55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10201,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10200\/revisions\/10201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Sameday-Cargo-Delivery-1.jpg\")
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