Toyota Nigeria Recalls Some Models of Yaris, Hilux over Faulty Airbag
Toyota Nigeria Limited (TNL) has said the inflator modules of the airbags of two of the Toyota models – Yaris and Hilux – it sold could be faulty and has requested owners of these vehicles to prepare to turn them in for repairs.
Specifically, the vehicles are the Toyota Yaris manufactured between 2003 and 2005 and the Toyota Hilux manufactured between 2003 and 2007.
According to the Managing Director of Toyota Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kunle Ade-Ojo, they had to embark on this special service campaign after being informed of the development by Toyota Motor Company (TMC), Japan last week.
The airbag issue is a global problem because it affects all vehicles/makes that use the airbag inflator device manufactured by Takata, a Japanese company.
Takata announced the airbag issue in April 2013, saying it involves defective inflator and propellant devices that may deploy improperly in the event of a crash, shooting metal fragments into vehicle occupants. Records show that at least six people have died worldwide due to the defect.
Kunle Ade-Ojo stated that vehicles sold by TNL would be brought in through their dealers to be repaired free of charge and that the procedure would be made public soon.
According to him, a list of the vehicles involved was being compiled to enable them know the number to be attended to.
He, however, noted that not all the units were affected, explaining that for the Hilux vehicles under consideration, the airbags with defective are those on the driver’s side but that the Yaris had defective devices on either the driver’s side or passenger’s or both.
The Hilux and Yaris vehicles purchased from TNL’s dealers, he said would be attended to but that other vehicles brought in through the grey market (not through TNL, an authorised representative of Toyota) would have limited support.
He explained that “We vigorously advertise, in the newspapers, of the need of buying your vehicle from Toyota Nigeria Limited authorised dealers. What we have records of are those brought in by TNL that we can treat accordingly. Any vehicle that has been brought through the grey market will have limited support. The only way it can have support perhaps is when the manufacturer says such person bought the vehicle to your market. Priority will be given to our customers.”
source#thisday#
