Toyota Vietnam 'forgot' to recall more than 50,000 vehicles using Takata airbags?

More than 71,000 Vios and Corolla Altis cars use Takata airbags for the front passenger seats, but to date only more than 18,000 have been recalled.

On August 22, the Vietnam Register approved a recall of 20,015 Toyota Vios and Yaris vehicles related to defective Takata airbags used for the front passenger seat.

According to Toyota Vietnam, out of the total of more than 20,000 affected vehicles, there are 18,138 Toyota Vios vehicles manufactured in Vietnam between January 5, 2009 and December 29, 2012. The number of 18,138 Toyota Vios vehicles is only a small part of the total of more than 71,000 Toyota vehicles using Takata airbags in Vietnam.

According to document No. 313/2017/TMV-TA on continuing to update information on the progress of the Free Inspection Program (FIP) that Toyota Vietnam sent to the Vietnam Register on April 26, 2017, the Japanese joint venture said that the company is manufacturing and assembling two car models using Takata airbags for the front passenger seats, namely Corolla Altis and Vios.

The total number of Vios cars manufactured from August 2007 to February 2014 is 26,727. However, in the recall notice, Toyota Vietnam only recalled 18,138 cars manufactured from January 2009 to December 2014. The fate of the remaining 8,598 Vios cars using Takata airbags remains unknown.

A Toyota Corolla Altis had an accident but the airbags did not deploy in Hanoi on the evening of November 17 in Hanoi. Photo: Han Nguyen

A Toyota Corolla Altis had an accident but the airbags did not deploy in Hanoi on the evening of November 17 in Hanoi. Photo: Han Nguyen

Not only Vios, Toyota Vietnam also has 44,582 Corolla Altis cars manufactured from August 2008 to September 2016 that also use Takata airbags for the front passenger seat. In this series of Altis cars, the models manufactured from October 2010 to July 2014 and September 2014 to September 2016 account for the majority.

Discussing the issue of which airbags are used in the Innova, Fortuner or Altis models manufactured at the same time as the Vios and Yaris, and why are they not subject to recall? Toyota Vietnam (TMV) said that TMV implemented this program according to the plan of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and only applied to 2 models, Yaris and Vios, with the VIN (frame number) as officially announced in the press release.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Register said that according to Toyota Vietnam's report, the car models using Takata airbags only include Toyota Vios and Toyota Corolla Altis. Currently, Toyota Japan and Toyota Vietnam are reviewing, announcing and implementing recall programs for these car models.

Up to now, there has been no written notice about the recall of more than 50,000 Toyota vehicles using Takata airbags in Vietnam.

According to TPO