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Mazda, Mitsubishi Recalls 624,000 Cars … As Toyota Names Affected Models in Nigeria
By: ROTIMI ASHER
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]azda Motor Corp and Mitsubishi Motors Corp have this morning said they would recall about 624,000 more vehicles to replace air bag inflators made by Japan’s Takata Corp, following similar moves last week by domestic Nissan, Toyota and Honda. Mazda said it was recalling about 112,000 vehicles including the Atenza sedan, Bongo van and two models it builds for Nissan Motor Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors.
A spokeswoman said it was still working out plans for any recall overseas. Mitsubishi Motors is calling back about 100,000 cars in Japan and 412,000 overseas, it said.(Corrects total in headline and paragraph 1 to 624,000, not 630,000, and Mazda recall figure in paragraph 2 to 112,000, not 120,000, after company revises number).
Meanwhile Toyota Nigeria Limited has become the first and so far only Nigerian franchise dealer to announce recall of some of the affected vehicles from Nigerian market. At a recent briefing, the company’s managing Director, Mr. Kunle Ade-Ojo, announced recall of Toyota Yaris and Hilux, purposely to fix some faults noticed with their airbags.
According to Mr. Ade-Ojo, affected Yaris were those manufactured between 2003 and 2005, while the Hilux model were those rolled out between 2003 and 2007.
The TNL boss said the inflators of the affected vehicles had the potential of allowing moisture into the modules, which could lead to the inflators deploying abnormally.
He said while the fault in the Hilux affected the driver’s side alone, it affected both the driver and passengers’ sides in the Yaris, adding that Toyota Nigeria is taking the urgent remedial “step as a responsible organisation whose public and customers’ safety is the soul of its business.”
Ade-Ojo, who said his company had no estimate of the number of vehicles affected so far, promised to check and replace the modules in the recalled vehicles, especially those purchased from Toyota’s accredited dealers.
Takata has confirmed that a defect exists in certain types of frontal driver and passenger side air bag inflators of vehicles manufactured by BMW, Chrysler, Daimler Trucks, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.
