Are you in danger of having your rego suspended?

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Are you in danger of having your rego suspended?

4 yrs ago

The owners of a number of vehicles that are yet to have potentially deadly Takata airbags replaced are being threatened with registration suspensions.

More than 3.4 million of the faulty airbags have been replaced free of charge in a compulsory recall that dates back to 2013, but concerned authorities believe thousands are still on the road. The Age reports that number is at least 400 in Victoria, including in certain Honda, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Mazda and Lexus models manufactured between 2001 and 2004.

“We don’t want to suspend or cancel anybody’s registration, but we will do whatever is necessary to get these potentially deadly airbags off our roads,” said Road Safety Minister Jaala Pulford.

People with the faulty airbags are set to receive letters again this week giving them a time frame to have them replaced at no cost by authorised brand dealers.

If the directions are not followed, the registrations for those vehicles will be suspended, the minister said, adding that the government had opted not to impose fines because of the socio-economic status of many of those affected.

To check if your vehicle is affected, visit this site.

8 comments

ex PS

4 yrs ago

More victim blaming by a weak cowardley government. They allow car manufacturers to export their crap to us, look the other way when the product shows to have major faults and then, they have the gall to talk about penalising the victims who have been sold lemons.

They should have done their job properly in the first place and ensured all these faulty bags werecreplaced.

The manufacturers should either be made to replace the bags or buy the old cars from the owners.

Nerk

4 yrs ago

What a great idea, every polician should be used as a crash test dummy.

Couldabeen

4 yrs ago

ex PS, If you've been paying attention, all of the Australian agents have been trying very hard to get the known owners of all affected cars to book into their local dealers for a replacement.

None of the cars as such were ever "lemons". The fault in the airbags developed over time and when identified attempts to replace the SRSs were made. There were a number of false trails as they (Takata, not the manufacturers of the cars) thought that they had identified why they were exploding and not fireing. The number that were actually dangerous was less than a quarter of a percent of those out there.

You will've noted that BMW have decided to buy back an entire model series as they do not have replacement SRSs for them. The models in question are all at least 20 years older or older.

Virginia

4 yrs ago

Oh Boy always blame the Polly

As if they can be over everything ... Its the workers no-one gives a shit these days Its always someone else's job; second rate work and service is par for the course these days.

Groan - please read the original post before commenting. which is as follows:

"People with the faulty airbags are set to receive letters again this week giving them a time frame to have them replaced at no cost by authorised brand dealers."

These errant car owners should be more severely penalised because an innocent passenger could be injured or killed because of their negligence.

ex PS

4 yrs ago

In which case, I withdraw my remarks.

Tuesday127

4 yrs ago

Have a relative who so far has refused or been too lazy to follow this up. They have had 12 months to do so. Who's at fault, the Gomment or the manufacturer. I think it's obvious.

Horace Cope

4 yrs ago

Perhaps neither, Bazza51, perhaps your relative?

Tuesday127

4 yrs ago

Have a relative who so far has refused or been too lazy to follow this up. They have had 12 months to do so. Who's at fault, the Gomment or the manufacturer. I think it's obvious.

sunnyOz

4 yrs ago

I owned a car with an airbag that needed replacing. But you need specialist people to install these - they cannot be done down at the corner mechanic. I was living in far western Qld at the time. Nearest place to get it done was 480 kms away. Not really viable for a one day trip. So that meant taking 2 days off work, overnight accommodation, cost of petrol - all at car owners expense. Car manufacturer not the slightest bit interested in assisting. By pure and utter accident/coincidence, what ever you want to call it, that car got stolen and written off, so I bought a car with a safer air bag.

KSS

4 yrs ago

Regardless, it is still the resposibility of the car owner to get it fixed or take the car off the road. If suspending registration, (which would also invalidate insurance in the event of an accident) is the way to go then so be it. There are no excuses for ignoring warnings like these.

Hawkeye

4 yrs ago

Good luck with that SunnyOz.

It took us over 4 years to finally convince Mazda that my wifes car had been written off while interstate, and we no longer had it.

On average, about once every month we would receive a letter or a phone call from someone trying to tell us we needed to book it in for rectification, and every time we responded with information that it had been written off and was probably lying in a wrecking yard somewhere. Finally, over the last couple of months, it seems to have stopped. Perhaps someone actually did their job properly.

jayzaa

4 yrs ago

Just checked my rego number and state. It said my Holden commodore was fine and didn't need checking.

Trouble is, My rego no is an AU FORD WTF???

Blossom

4 yrs ago

How many drivers from overseas can speak or read English? I have no idea how they manage to get their licenses.

pedro the swift

4 yrs ago

They come in corn flakes packets!

KSS

4 yrs ago

Well guess what Blossom. The ' in language' media reports on these thimgs too so very likely people whose first language s not English have already been given the same information. But like English speaking Australians, some will choose to ignore their responsibilities.

Hawkeye

4 yrs ago

Blossom, how vulgar!!!!

I thought people like you had died out at last.

FYI - They get their licences by knowing how to drive and knowing the road rules, just like the rest of us. There is not much difference the world over.

And the vast majority already have Drivers Licences or International Driving Permits before they get here (often obtained after much more stringent training and testing than the Aussie equivalent).

I bet you would be the first to complain if you travelled to, say, France or Germany and were told your Drivers Licence or IDP was invalid because you don't talk the lingo.

Anyway, wtf has this got to do with airbags?

Couldabeen

4 yrs ago

As far as I'm aware, the proposal to deregister suspect cars in only applicable to those in Victoria.

Most of the manufacturers agents in Australia have been trying hard to contact owners when known. At least one owner who was contacted both by mail and direct phone calls and still refused to visit their dealer for a replacement died as a result of the SRS exploding.

Which is doubly tragic as the research that Takata had done indicated that less than 1/4 of a percent were believed to be faulty.

The most recent recall by BMW is for SRSs by a manufacturer other than Takata. BMW are recalling all of the potentially affected models with a buy back offer in place with a strict "Do Not Drive" order.

An unknown number of the potentialy dangerous cars either are not being driven at all or no longer exist.

Expect unforseen consequences as a Government Department gets involved.

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