The Australian government is taking the unusual step of ordering a recall of nearly 4m cars fitted with Takata airbags which have caused deaths worldwide, including at least one death in Australia.
The assistant minister to the treasurer, Michael Sukkar, announced the recall on Wednesday morning.
“The sad thing about this is that this has been waiting in the wings for months and months,” Labor’s consumer affairs spokesman, Tim Hammond, told reporters in Canberra.
“It is an indictment of this government that they have taken so long to pull the trigger on a compulsory recall.”
Labor called for a recall in August last year.
Manufacturers Ford, Holden and Volkswagen are among the carmakers that will be expected to urgently replace the airbags, which can explode.
“We put the safety of Australians first and foremost at all times,” the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, told reporters.
The Australian compulsory recall is one of the largest of its kind and follows voluntary recalls by carmakers last year affecting 1.7 million vehicles.
Some cars have already been voluntarily recalled by manufacturers, with Wednesday’s action concerning those that have yet to be fixed.
An investigation by Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission found that Takata airbag inflators without a desiccant – a drying agent – or with a calcium sulphate desiccant had a design flaw.
It said that over time the ammonium nitrate propellant could degrade, potentially leading to the airbags being deployed in error.
Worldwide, at least 23 deaths and more than 230 serious injuries have been reported in connection with the Takata airbags, Sukkar said, with a man killed in Australia last year.
Full details of the makes and models recalled can be found here on the ACCC website.
