Mandatory recall of Takata airbags announced

• Not all ACCC recommendations adopted, such as the right to a refund
• Loan cars and tows will be made available
• Death and injury tally continues to rise

The federal government has made the recall of Takata airbags compulsory, resulting in it overseeing the efforts of 25 manufacturers, as the total number of cars affected swells to four million.

The first-ever mandatory recall for vehicles in Australia will affect 2.3 million cars that are yet to have the faulty airbag replaced. Of those, 1.3 million had not been voluntarily recalled by nine companies, including Ford, GM Holden and Volkswagen.

The announcement comes seven months after a CHOICE investigation revealed that recall efforts had stalled, with some mainstream manufacturers having repaired as little as 11% and 12% of affected cars.

A mandatory recall was needed after car makers failed to adequately deal with the voluntary recall, says Michael Sukkar, assistant minister to the Treasurer.

"While almost one in five passenger vehicles on Australian roads have now been recalled, the voluntary recall process has not been effective in some cases, and some manufacturers have not taken satisfactory action to address the serious safety risk which arises after the airbags are more than six years old," he says.

"To ensure a coordinated recall, over the next two years manufacturers will be required to progressively identify their recalls and replace airbags in affected vehicles."

Many of the formal recommendations made by the ACCC have been dismissed by the government, including the right to a refund in certain cases and the prescription to fix within one month any airbags that are older than six years.

But consumers will be given rights under the compulsory recall. These include a loan car or taxi fare for customers who have to leave their car at a dealership for more than 24 hours.

Special provisions have also been made for the remaining 25,000 cars that are fitted with early "alpha" Takata airbags. Owners can request these cars be towed to the dealership or have a technician fix them on site.

Manufacturers will have to follow a strict schedule to have cars repaired. Cars in areas of high heat and humidity – factors that make the airbags break down quicker – are of the highest priority, followed by cars that are older than six years, and then cars with affected driver airbags.

The government has given manufacturers until July 2018 to publish a recall schedule and a searchable database, and all affected airbags are expected to be fixed as per Takata's timeline, by December 2020.

Takata airbags contain a chemical that turns volatile over time. Approximately 1-in-400 deployments results in metal shards being shot at drivers (or passengers) as the airbags deploy.

The odds of explosion are significantly higher for early versions of the airbags, known as 'alpha' versions. An earlier CHOICE investigation revealed these have a failure rate as high as one-in-two.

Meanwhile, the tally of victims continues to rise. It is understood 23 people worldwide have been killed by the airbags to date, with 230 people sustaining injuries as severe as blinding, paralysis and severed vocal chords.

In Australia, a 21-year-old woman was hospitalised in serious condition for months, and a 58-year-old man was tragically killed.