Cars may have ‘time-bomb’ airbags

Thousands of Irish motorists may be driving around with “time-bomb” airbags made by Takata, a company whose inflation mechanism was deemed responsible for the deaths and maiming of dozens of people worldwide.

Ten years ago, a huge recall was made of faulty airbag inflators made by Takata but the potentially deadly inflators used by Japanese, American, and European car manufacturers can still be found in tens of thousands of older vehicles on the road.

Nissan Ireland has alerted motorists to the dangers associated with passenger airbags after a previous recall of inflators in driver airbags. In a letter to customers, the warranty department of Nissan Ireland advises owners to have their airbag inflators replaced free of charge.