PRODUCT SAFETY and RECALLS in Southeast Asia and Malaysia

Takata airbag recalls affecting Australian consumers Published: 21 Sep 2017 Drivers are strongly urged to check whether their motor vehicle has been recalled to replace faulty Takata airbags. These recalls affect a large number of car makes and models, and a small number of motorcycles and trucks. There have been serious injuries and deaths from faulty Takata airbags. The inflator components may deteriorate and subsequently mis-deploy in an incident causing metal fragments to propel out of the airbag. more

Sisters  Raechel and Jacqueline Houck in the US were victims of a fatal car accident in Santa Cruz, US in 2004. The car they were driving was a Chrysler PT Cruiser – one of the models involved in a recall. The car rental company did not ground the models and rented out to the sisters and apparently began leaking steering fluid and suddenly caught fire before crashing into an oncoming semi-tractor trailer. As reported in a 2010 ABC News investigation, the car had been under a safety recall for the potential fire hazard, but was still rented to the sisters (ABC News, July 10, 2012). The parents of these sisters were awarded USD 15 million and a new law was drafted to ensure that car rental companies repair or ground unsafe cars if those cars are involved in any recalls. Fast forward 2014 (Dec) Law Suk Leh who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant from Sibu, died on the way to the hospital, becoming the first reported casualty outside the US in air-bag crisis. In ...