Toyota sued for airbag defect
About 500,000 Australians could join a lawsuit against seven car manufacturers over the impact of recall campaigns for vehicles fitted with faulty airbags.
The class action lawsuit against Toyota comes from customers affected by the Takata airbag recall. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan (Quinn Emanuel), one of the world's largest law firms, is filing the lawsuit, and said the case will affect more than half a million Australians, according to the Northern Star.
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| When activated by a vehicle crash, Takata airbags can explode and fragments can injure vehicle occupants. |
Similar lawsuits against Honda, Mazda, BMW, Subaru, Audi and Volkswagen are expected to be filed in the coming weeks.
People who have purchased one of the products of the 7 brands mentioned aboveduring the period from 2001 to 2017and vehicles equipped with Takata airbags are eligible to participate in the lawsuit.
The petition was filedThe Supreme Court of New South Wales on November 10 also pointed out that Toyota had breached its obligations to customers under the Australian Consumer Law.
Hundreds of Toyota owners have signed up to join the lawsuit since it was announced in July, said Damian Scattini, a partner at Quinn Emanuel.
“Globally, the Takata airbag recall is the largest product safety recall in history and the number of Australian customers potentially affected could create the largest consumer protection case in Australia,” Scattini said.
According to this expert, since 2009, more than 2.3 million cars in Australia have been recalled. The faulty airbags were installed in cars manufactured from 2002 to 2015 and have caused the deaths of at least 18 people and injured more than 180 people worldwide.
The lawsuit will give Australians who own cars with faulty airbags a chance to get a replacement or a refund, Scattini said.
More than 20 years ago, automakers agreed to let Takata supply their airbags. By 2013, many automakers began recalling large numbers of vehicles equipped with Takata airbags. Reports suggest the problem may have started a decade earlier. In April and May 2013, a total of 3.6 million vehicles were recalled. In June 2014, Takata admitted that it had improperly stored chemicals and mismanaged the production of propellants, the type used in airbags, at its plant in Mexico. On June 23, 2014, companies including BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota announced the recall of more than 3 million vehicles worldwide due to faulty Takata airbags. In July 2014, a pregnant Malaysian woman was killed when her 2003 Honda City crashed. The 42-year-old victim was killed when metal fragments from the driver’s airbag pierced her neck as she was driving at about 30 km/h when she was hit by another car. In November 2014, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) asked Takata to recall vehicles globally after 10 US automakers recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles equipped with potentially defective airbags manufactured by Takata. In May 2015, Takata was responsible for the largest recall in the history of the auto industry. About 40 million vehicles from 12 brands had "airbags that could explode and shoot sharp fragments into the face and body of drivers and front-seat passengers." In November of that year, Takata was fined $200 million in the US. In May 2016, NHTSA announced an additional recall campaign with an expected 35-40 million airbag inflators, up from the previous figure of 28.8 million airbag inflators. In August 2016, a truck carrying Takata airbag components crashed in Quemado, Texas (USA) and caused the truck bed to explode, destroying a house and killing a woman inside. In January 2017, the US indicted three Takata executives for exploding airbags. The company agreed to pay $1 billion, including a $25 million fine, $125 million in compensation to victims and $850 million in compensation to automakers. |
According to VNE
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