The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has notified motorists of recalls for Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Saab vehicles, as issued by parent company Stellantis.
The callback affects all Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Saab cars sold between 2006 and 2008.
These recalls are part of the ongoing Takata airbag campaign which has been active for well over a decade.
According to Stellantis, the driver’s airbag inflator in these cars may experience an alteration over time, which could lead to overaggressive combustion in the event of an airbag deployment.
“As a result, in the event of an airbag rupture, metal fragments could pass through the airbag cushion material, which may result in injury or death to vehicle occupants,” said the automaker.
Likewise, Chevrolet Aveo, Cruze, and Orlando vehicles distributed from the year 2010 to 2013 are also being recalled, as well as Chevrolet-Saab and Cadillac vehicles distributed between 2014 and 2018.
As per the supplier, these vehicles may be fitted with a driver’s airbag inflator that could rupture during airbag deployment phase
“The potentially high energic deployment of the inflator may lead to metal fragments detaching from the bursting inflator,” said Stellantis.
“These parts could fly in the direction of the driver or occupants in the vehicle, capable of causing serious injury or possibly death in a worst-case scenario.”
Consumers with affected vehicles are advised to visit their nearest dealership for repair or replacement of the airbag.
Takata recall
The Takata airbag debacle is one of the largest recall campaigns the automotive industry has witnessed to date, affecting tens of millions of units across the globe.
It has been underway since late 2014 with over 100 million Takata airbag inflators being recalled during this time by more than 20 different automakers, including Acura, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Infiniti, Mazda, Nissan, Pontiac, and Toyota.
To date, the faulty airbags have been linked to as many as 22 deaths and over 180 known injuries, according to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Competition Commission.
Automakers have gone to extreme lengths to get these vehicles repaired and safely back on the road, but noted that they are unable to track down second, third, and fourth owners of affected cars as most of the original owners have long since upgraded to newer wheels.
In South Africa, Citroen recently recalled all C3 and DS3 models manufactured between 2009 and 2019 as part of the Takata campaign.
Likewise, Mitsubishi has been running an ongoing recall campaign on all Lancer, Triton, and Pajero models for a number of years in an effort to get the last components replaced.
The automaker confirmed to TopAuto in 2021 that it had completed almost 14,000 replacements at the time but that there were still roughly 13,500 outstanding.
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