Delia Rickard, the deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) which instituted the recall says the Commission is pleased to have such a “high completion rate in what has been the biggest vehicle recall in Australian history”.

“Over 3 million vehicles were originally affected and to have it just shy of 100% complete makes this a great success in terms of numbers compared with other recalls,” Rickard said.

“However, there are still some vehicles in the community that may still have deadly airbags.”

Rickard said that, in particular, around 312,000 vehicles have been deemed to be compliant with the recall although they have not had their airbags replaced. 

“This category covers vehicles which have been scrapped, stolen or unregistered for more than two years, or where consumers did not respond or were not contactable after repeated contacts through different channels,” Rickard noted.

Rickard said that globally, these Takata airbags have been associated with over 350 serious injuries and 33 deaths, including one death in Sydney in July 2017 and one serious injury in Darwin in April 2017 - and two injuries also reported following an accident in Sydney in August 2020.

“If you have an affected vehicle and have not yet had your airbag replaced, please contact your vehicle manufacturer urgently to arrange for a free replacement,” Rickard said.

“It is important we continue to work together to get the small number of dangerous vehicles that are identifiable off our roads.”

State and territory registration sanctions apply to vehicles that have not had their faulty airbags replaced and Rickard says the ACCC is also working with state and territory registration authorities to ensure deregistered vehicles are not re-registered without confirmation that the airbag has been replaced.

The ACCC says consumers can visit ismyairbagsafe.com.au, the Product Safety Australia page, or contact their manufacturer to check if their vehicle is affected.

And a list of vehicle manufacturer helplines and contact details is available online. 

As reported by iTWire in December last year, the ACCC reported that over 65,000 vehicles with deadly Takata airbags still remained on Australian roads with just four weeks until the compulsory recall deadline.