As giant automobile makers battle it out to gain supremacy in the market, their efforts are shadowed by the never ending car recalls, which are not only costly but also taint the reputation of the companies on quality assurance to consumers. It has been revealed that Japanese automakers including Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, and Honda are in the process of recalling close to 3.4 million units from defects found in airbags.
According to Hong Kong CNNmoney, the latest of the recalls are those from Toyota-TM in which more than 1.7 million cars are said to be recalled owing to airbag defects. An airbag is essential in that it minimizes the magnitude of an injury whenever a crash occurs. However, any defects in this crucial safety device in cars could lead to serious injuries if a crash occurred.
While Toyota was recalling 1.7 million units, with popular models like Camry, Matrix, and Corolla among the cars being recalled, on the other side, Honda is recalling 1.1 million vehicles, Nissan 480,000 autos, and Mazda 45,000. Insurance companies have been rallying for quality assurance on automobile manufacturer because this was causing great economic losses in term of road accident injuries compensations, which could otherwise be averted.
However, the most hit is the consumer who is placed in a risky situation of sustaining injuries, if not death, when an accident occurred due to malfunctioning airbags and other motor vehicle functionalities. In addition, the consumer was likely to pay high automobile premiums and this means that it is double tragedy for the innocent consumer. The recalls are not only on Toyota cars. Other mainstream companies in the automobile market have also found themselves in the same cutting sword.
Honda, Mazda, and Nissan have also been hit by this quality assurance blow. Honda-HMC is recalling more than 1.1 million cars. Honda automobile manufacturer said that the recall was necessary in order to replace defective passenger front airbag inflators. The company expressed concerns that it was possible that front airbag inflators in the vehicles affected would deploy with too much pressure.
Such pressure could cause the inflators casing to burst, something that could cause injuries. Most of the Honda cars, which are expected to be recalled, are those from the models between 2001 and 2003. Honda confirmed that it was aware of one incident where the inflator of the passenger front airbag had ruptured because of too much pressure.
Nonetheless, the company said that it was not aware of any deaths or injuries owing to the defects. According to Shino Yamada, Toyota spokeswoman, the airbags that are believed to have the defect were manufactured by a Japan-based supplier, Takata Corp. From the announcement of the recall, the shares of Takata sunk deeply and it was seen that at some point they had fallen by more than 15 percent.
However, the shares recovered to close down at 9 percent. In the US, the recall has brought some effects. Toyota’s largest cars recall was witnessed in 2009 and 2010 were it was estimated that 8 million cars were recalled for having a potential risk that involved the accelerator pedals. The latest recall hit the company, which is now trying to heal and restore its reputation for quality after that massive recall. In that previous recall, motor dealers were asked to suspend sales of close to eight models of cars and many other models were stopped for some time.
Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/11/news/toyota-honda-airbag-recall/index.html
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