The tragic recent death of a motorist at Cabramatta in Sydney is a powerful reminder to Australians to check whether they own a vehicle equipped with potentially faulty Takata airbags.

I express my sympathy and condolences to the man’s friends and family following this sad loss.

New South Wales Police have advised that the likely cause of death was a faulty Takata airbag.

A recall process has been underway in Australia since 2009 for vehicles equipped with potentially faulty Takata airbags.

Takata is a Japanese company which manufactures airbags installed by many manufacturers in their vehicles sold around the world. The recall process, in Australia and elsewhere, began after it emerged that there were safety problems with certain airbags manufactured by Takata over a period of time.

As part of that process, vehicle manufacturers have written to owners of affected vehicles providing advice about the recall.

Many affected Australians have acted upon these letters, but not all have.

If you have received such a letter, I strongly urge you to contact your dealer as soon as possible to make arrangements to bring your vehicle in to be rectified.

If you are not sure if your vehicle is affected, as a first step you should go to product safety website of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which gives further information including a list of potentially affected makes and models of vehicle. If you discover that your vehicle is potentially affected, you should contact your local dealer as soon as possible.

The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, responsible for the regulation of vehicles when first supplied to the market, is working with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, responsible for product safety, and vehicle manufacturers, to oversee the recall of affected vehicles which the vehicle manufacturers are carrying out, and to inform Australians of the actions they need to take.

Source: The Hon Paul Flethcher MP, Minister for Urban Infrastructure