The National Automobile Union (NAS), led by Anton Shaparov, has appealed to the Minister of Industry to oblige AvtoVAZ to recall Lada Granta, Vesta, and Xray cars equipped with airbags manufactured by Takata.
NAS pointed out that 35 car brands worldwide have recalled 67 million potentially dangerous Takata airbags due to an unreliable gas generator. Its housing corrodes in just a few years, becomes brittle, and when the airbag is deployed, its squib literally explodes, and metal parts scatter around the cabin as shrapnel.
According to various reports, Takata airbags have killed 36 people worldwide and injured several hundred over the years, leading to the recall of hundreds of thousands of cars.
The head of public relations at AvtoVAZ, Sergey Ilyinsky, responded to the claims by saying that "the issue has been closed for a long time," and the initiative is nothing more than an attempt to create hype.
He emphasized that the situation with Takata products installed on Lada Kalina, Priora, and Granta was resolved back in 2019. As part of the campaign, 1,716 cars of different model families were recalled.
As for Lada Vesta, it was initially equipped with a design that can cope with the consequences of airbag deployment due to the reinforced design of the front panel. AvtoVAZ decided to strengthen this element of the cabin at the development stage, as the problems with Takata airbags were already known.
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