Defective airbags: Volkswagen recalls thousands of vehicles

Major product recall at VW: Several models are affected by a defect in the front passenger airbag, which could be life-threatening in the event of an accident. The manufacturer urgently advises affected vehicle owners not to use the front passenger seat of their car.

Volkswagen confirmed a media report according to which a gas generator of the airbag could burst in the event of an accident. Components could also come loose. Both could lead to "serious or fatal injuries for vehicle occupants", a VW spokesperson told Spiegel magazine. According to Spiegel, a total of up to 16,510 VW Polo, Passat, Taigo, ID.7, ID.7 Tourer and ID.Buzz vehicles are affected. Affected owners will be contacted and should make an appointment with their VW dealer; it will take around one to three hours to rectify the problem. Until then, the following expressly applies: deactivate the affected airbag and do not use the front passenger seat.

Not the first recall due to airbags

VW had already recalled 270,000 cars in 2023 due to dangerous airbags. As Volkswagen writes on a support page, the Japanese airbag manufacturer Takata had been supplying airbags with faulty gas generators to the automotive industry for years, which change due to ageing caused by certain climatic influences (heat and humidity). This could be dangerous for the occupants in the event of an accident.

There is also a search bar on the support page where you can enter your vehicle identification number (VIN) to check whether your vehicle is affected. However, it is not yet known whether the vehicles currently affected are also fitted with Takata airbags. The name is not mentioned in this context in several concurring current media reports. So far, Volkswagen has only stated that it intends to contact the owners currently affected. A spokesperson also said that the number of people affected could be significantly lower than expected because many affected vehicles have potentially not yet been delivered. However, the VIN search on the presumably already older support page is not mentioned anywhere in current VW statements. If you want to be on the safe side, you should wait and see if VW gets in touch or try to contact the manufacturer yourself. It is also not known whether models from other car brands in the VW Group are affected by the problem.

In France, there is currently also a massive product recall due to faulty airbags. The reason is a fatality: when the gas cartridge of the airbag of an eleven-year-old Citroën C3 exploded, a metal part fatally hit the driver. The cause was a faulty Takata airbag. As a result, hundreds of thousands of cars were recalled in France this week. According to the news agency Reuters, this is what has happened to a total of around 100 million cars worldwide fitted with Takata airbags in recent years. In the USA alone, there have been 28 confirmed deaths caused by such airbags. Estimates for the worldwide extent amount to around 35 deaths. Takata filed for bankruptcy in 2017, but was taken over by the Chinese company Key Safety Systems and now operates under the name Joyson Safety Systems.

(nen)