If you are driving a Toyota, Nissan, Honda or a Mazda make of car there is a very good chance that the air bag that was designed to save you in a crash - may kill you instead. A vast number of car manufacturers fitted their models with Tanaka brand air bags and then it was discovered that they have a fault. In some instances, when the bag inflates to cushion your head in a crash, the propellant becomes excessive and destroys its restraints, sending sharp particles of metal into the face of the person behind the air bag - with fatal results. It is like driving with a shotgun pointed at your head.
The Tanaka company has been driven into bankruptcy and the re-call and replacement of these faulty air bags is now the responsibility of the individual car manufacturers, but the work has progressed tardily. Almost 2.5million cars in Australia have had their air bags replaced, but a huge number are still waiting and now another 877,000 cars thought to be unaffected have joined the queue.
The government suspects that the car industry is dragging the chain because of the enormous cost involved, and because they consider the risk overstated. It is a fact that only a small percentage of these air bags deliver a lethal result and in the entire globe only nineteen fatalities have been recorded, with about two hundred others suffering lesser injury. This is a voluntary re-call, and the government is thinking of making it mandatory. That is causing the entire car industry shock and alarm.
It is reasonable to understand that manufacturing such a large order of replacements would take time and many members of the public have been slow to respond to that re-call. Over the years there have been numerous car safety problems that have resulted in fatalities and the car industry fears that if mandatory re-call becomes an issue it could bankrupt any of the major car companies who have the misfortune to experience a major re-call fault.
For some strange reason, Australia treats cars differently to other goods and services covered by consumer protection laws. If you buy a faulty toaster or television set the famous " Thee R's " apply - Replacement - Refund - or Repair - at the customers choice. Many people have called for what are called " Lemon Laws " to apply to cars. So far these have not been applied in this country.
The modern car is a marvellous piece of machinery constructed on a production line and faults are rare, but occasionally someone has the misfortune to get one that seems to spend weeks in the repair shop having warranty faults fixed. In many other countries, specific laws come into play when the repair time exceeds a limit - and the customer can return the car for a refund or accept a new car as a replacement.
That is not particularly onerous on the car manufacturer. Obviously, they will eventually fix the fault and sell the car again on the used car lot. It simply transfers whatever loss is involved from the owner to the manufacturer - and that is what protection laws are supposed to provide. That is the penalty for creating a defective product.
The government may be threatening to make re-calls mandatory to spur the car industry to make a greater effort to quickly resolve this air bag problem. While the risk of death from a faulty air bag is small it needs to be eliminated entirely. While it exists, a simple rear end bump would be sufficient to result in an air bag fatality - and that is unacceptable.
Perhaps now is a good time to create a realistic " Lemon Law " to protect car buyers.
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