Sleuths track Takata airbag escapees
The Takata airbag scandal, which remains an unprecedented automotive disaster that continues to plague car manufacturers and disrupt dealership service department workflows, is finding some unlikely allies in the thankless task of tracking down recalcitrant owners with the potentially deadly airbags still in their cars.
Thwarted by limited replacement parts and thousands of unidentified missing vehicles – and now the recent announcement of yet another million airbags – the logistical nightmare could last well into the next decade.
And more recently the number of affected cars in Australia was inflated to four million – up from 2.7 million.
The Takata airbag recall – the biggest single recall in vehicle history – is being dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible by OEMs who face potentially crippling litigation if the process claims more victims.
Dealers are also caught in the machine. Many have forgone workshop service time to repair faulty airbags and most are part of the process to find missing vehicles and recall them for repair.
In the battle to locate the vehicles that OEMs have yet to find, they are turning to some enterprising Australian businesses that have turned their data mining programs to the task.
EvalExpert director Jaron Crossland said the data available to his company comes from a variety of sources.
Mr Crossland said that on the Motor Trades Association of Queensland (MTAQ) data program that his company built “it will flag if the car has a Takata airbag recall”.
“The data can show if the car has been subject of a recall. But our information is only as good as what has been updated. If it hasn’t been updated then we will flag the car anyway because we don’t know and is a very serious safety issue.”
27 Jun 2018
