785 Hawke's Bay vehicles have faulty Takata Alpha airbags; potentially fatal risk

Some imported cars could have faulty airbags. Photo / Paul Taylor

More than 700 vehicles in Hawkes' Bay are potentially at risk of incurring fatal explosions from faulty air bags, government research shows.

A compulsory recall of Takata Alpha airbags was issued nationwide earlier this year.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said while main centres made up more than 21,000 of the 35,000 Takata alpha airbags still needing to be replaced, he was concerned smaller communities had high numbers of vehicles needing attention.

Government figures showed a total of 785 vehicles in Hawke's Bay have not complied with the recall order, which could be carried out free of charge.

"We know the cars most likely to have these at-risk airbags are older models – and we now know the communities where we are seeing high numbers of these. I intend to get as many as possible of these airbags out of the cars out there in the community because these cars are transporting our kids, our families.

"I also want to ensure people know people can have their airbags replaced for free if it is an Alpha airbag – there is no cost to the consumer. I know it can be a nuisance travelling for a repair but I want to be clear – these airbags are a risk.

"Overseas there have been 23 known fatal cases of airbags exploding and sending fragments into the vehicle. While the risk of that happening in New Zealand is low due to less humidity in the air, which the airbags are more susceptible to, we need consumers to get on board to bring risk levels down, and keep our people safe."

Hastings car importer Brendan Addis said while there was no risk with anything being sold at present, because all imported cars were checked before sale, some owners of cars imported previously had still not received letters of recall.

"All our stuff that arrives here from Japan has to have the airbags done before they enter the country - those are the new rules. We just check everything, if you can't get the airbag we can't sell it by law.

"The biggest problem is some people have ignored the warnings or the letters to take them back. Generally, most people have had a notice, but not all. I've had some where the people have had the car for a number of years - and it's on the recall list but they have never had a notice."

Addis was also working through his own record to ensure customers were aware of the situation if their car was on the recall list.

Most airbags could be replaced within a week.

Models imported from Japan before 2015 are most likely to have the affected airbags but the recall list also includes Audi, BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, as well as Japanese car makes.

• People can check whether their vehicle has been affected by visiting rightcar.govt.nz and keying in the registration number. RightCar tells you if the vehicle has an Alpha type airbag that needs replacing and what to do if that is the case.