Gasgoo.com (Shanghai June 17) - Safety concerns have prompted airbag recalls across the world. A report from Securities Daily today quoted a study made by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine's Defective Product Administrative Center, there was a dramatically large number of automobile recalls made globally due to airbag issues in the half month period from the end of May to early June. Recalls have affected vehicles from several brands, including Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota.
Among these cases, Ford ordered a recall of its Kuga SUVs in South Korea due to problems with the airbag's control unit software that may cause the airbag from deploying promptly on impact. Land Rover's Korean branch also ordered a similar recall for its Range Rover Evoque in which a design flaw may lead to the connectors to the airbags disconnecting, which may prevent the airbag from deploying.
Meanwhile, Toyota recalled 648,000 vehicles in Japan. Furthermore, its design and manufacturing division has plans to recall approximately 500,000 2014 Highlander and Santa Fe hybrid vehicles in the US due to the possibility of the airbag control units being improperly installed. Another Toyota recall of 2.26 million vehicles worldwide is reportedly also in the works, but it will not affect the Chinese market.
The scale and frequency of recent airbag-related recalls are related to the increasing number of consumer complaints. According to the qctsw.com, a website compiling automobile-related complaints, there are over 1,000 airbag-related complaints. "Safety airbags are very key and important auto parts that affect the safety of the lives of the [vehicle's] driver and passengers," automobile industry analyst Zhang Zhiyong pointed out. "Everyone knows the importance of airbags and that subpar quality in airbags will cause safety problems."
It isn't unfair to say that in the eyes of many consumers, airbags are as important as seat belts when it comes to automobile safety. Mr. Zhang states that as automobile technology continues to increase dramatically, technological improvement of some auto parts, including airbags, may have been left behind. Unless manufacturers put out stricter standards or otherwise manage auto part suppliers, similar airbag-related quality issues may continue to occur in the future. Mr. Zhang also pointed out that the total number of automobile recalls increase, air-bag related recalls are also destined to grow.
Another problem specifically pertaining to airbags is that they, since they are intended to only activate under very specific and extreme circumstances, it is very hard to see signs of quality problems in normal circumstances. However manufacturers must be aware as they will be responsible for any problems which are deemed to be the result of poor problem quality.
