Toyota Motor Viet Nam (TMV) will replace the front passenger airbag inflators and sensors for 20,490 cars in the Vietnamese market at no cost to customers.

According to the TMV’s recalling campaign, which was launched on March 21, the firm recalled 16,964 Corolla cars manufactured and assembled domestically from January 4, 2010, to December 29, 2012, to inspect and replace the airbag inflators in the front passenger seat.

Toyota said the airbag inflator provided by Takata Company may be exposed to moisture. In case of an accident when the airbag system is activated, depending on the circumstances, the release of gases may increase the pressure inside the airbag, cracking the air inflator. If this happens, the metal pieces can splash out through the inflated airbags, leading to the risk of serious injury to the passengers.

Toyota will inspect and replace all the airbag inflators in the front passenger seat and airbag sensors for all the affected vehicles fee of cost. The recall campaign started from Thursday, with testing and replacement time expected to be one to three hours.

Airbags in the driver’s seat, which were not provided by Takata Company, is not part of the project.

The remainder of more than 3,500 Toyota vehicles will be replaced the airbag sensors, including 2,043 Corolla units (locally manufactured from June 29, 2015, to December 16, 2015), 1,182 Hilux imported cars (produced from July 1, 2015, to November 30, 2015), 46 Lexus NX 200t imported units (made from May 25, 2015, to September 9, 2015) and 254 Lexus RX 350 imported cars (manufactured from May 25, 2015, to January 6, 2016).

Toyota said due to defects in the manufacturing line, the IC chip insulator located in the airbag sensors in these vehicles may be detonated after a period of use. The vehicles involved are equipped with an airbag system that uses multiple sensors to detect the impact in the event of a collision.

Due to two separate manufacturing issues, there is a possibility that the insulation layers of the IC chips could peel over time, creating an open circuit in the IC chip.

If this occurs, the airbag warning light will illuminate. Additionally, the side/curtain shield airbags and/or front airbags may become deactivated.

The firm will check and replace the damaged airbag sensor for all cars from March 22. The testing and replacement time is about 0.5 hours to 7 hours. — VNS