The defective airbag scandal becomes a major crisis for Stellantis. The automotive group is expected to recall eight million vehicles in Europe, according to Le Parisien, a figure that BFM Business can confirm. After just over 500,000 C3 and DS3 that were already subject to a recall in May, the C4, DS4 and DS5 and Opel brand cars would now be added.
Last May, Stellantis recalled 530,000 C3s and DS3s worldwide. A “stop driving” recall, according to the term used by the French-Italian-American manufacturer, which asked all drivers of C3 and DS3 models manufactured between the years 2009 and 2019 to immediately stop driving their vehicle, under risk from suffering serious or serious illnesses. even fatal injuries.
Today, this campaign has not been expanded. But the group should run another, less critical recall campaign. Without asking its customers to immediately stop driving their vehicle, Stellantis will tell them to replace their airbags, which actually have a construction defect, even if the risk is limited. This recall affects eight million vehicles.
Provision of 941 million euros
These are all vehicles of the group’s brands that are still equipped with airbags from the Japanese manufacturer Takata. The latter, which went bankrupt, is responsible for more than 100 million car recalls worldwide since the 2000s. A Stellantis source explains to us that today there may not be any risk in all cars equipped with Takata airbags, but there may be. one tomorrow. In other words, the uncertainty is total.
At the moment, Stellantis is not communicating about these “technical” recalls, but the manufacturer will no doubt quickly say more given the magnitude of the crisis. In its 2022-2023 fiscal year, the group had planned a “Takata budget” and had earmarked €941 million for recall campaigns.
The case of defective airbags also takes on a legal aspect. At the initiative of a Toulouse lawyer, a class action was launched in favor of the affected customers, considering that the company had known about the Takata airbag problem for a long time and was slow to react.
Source: BFM TV
