German car manufacturer Audi’s authorised dealer in the north, the Debreli group, on Friday announced that it would replace potentially faulty airbags manufactured by Japanese company Takata for free.
It said it “strongly recommends” that those in the north driving impacted cars have “this safety-critical procedure … carried out as soon as possible”.
Those in the north who believe their Audi-manufactured car may be fitted with a potentially faulty Takata airbag are encouraged to contact their Audi authorised service centre with their chassis number and, if it is, make a free appointment to have their airbag replaced.
The Debreli group can be contacted at +90 (0) 539 108 0333.
The issue of airbag safety stems from the production of faulty airbags manufactured by Takata. The company’s airbags suffer a fault related to exposure to high levels of heat or humidity, which means they have a tendency to explode when released under such circumstances.
This explosion shoots the airbag’s metal inflator outwards and in the direction of the person it was designed to protect, potentially causing further injuries or, in some cases, death.
Last week, 26-year-old Turkish national Ali Osman Bayram was killed in the north after the airbag inside the steering wheel exploded, causing a piece of iron to lodge in his skull.
Vehicles fitted with potentially lethal Takata airbags have been subject to a mass recall in the Republic this year, with Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades having decreed the recall of over 80,000 cars in February.
Last week, the eight-month grace period on those recalls, allocated to allow motorists to have their airbags replaced, began to expire, with vehicles having their road tax and MOT certificates rescinded on various dates between Friday and October 30.
Meanwhile, Cyprus Turkish chamber of mechanical engineers chairman Ayer Yarkiner had said his chamber had also found that Bayram’s death had been caused by the airbag, and lamented a lack of action over the matter on the part of the Turkish Cypriot authorities.
“Vehicles with risky airbags affected by the Takata crisis are being allowed to be imported without inspection,” he said, adding that “despite years of warnings, the necessary precautions have not been taken”.
Earlier in the year, Yarkiner had told the north’s transport services commission that the north has “no time to waste” over faulty Takata airbags, calling for a law to be passed to “place responsibility onto the vehicle users” and ensure that vehicles fitted with faulty airbags are “banned from traffic”.
Additionally, he told the north’s ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli that Takata airbags “explode like hand grenades”.
