JPJ to warn car owners to replace faulty Takata airbags, ignoring it may lead to a summons

PUTRAJAYA: The Road Transport Department (JPJ) will issue notices to car owners with faulty Takata airbags to remind them to change their airbags, says Anthony Loke.

The Transport Minister said an information technology (IT) taskforce was set up Tuesday (June 5) to facilitate data exchange between JPJ and the affected car manufacturers.

He said a meeting will be held Wednesday morning (June 6) and all the manufacturers will give JPJ data on the cars that have yet to change their airbags.

“The information will be processed in stages every two weeks, and JPJ will issue notices by post to the affected car owners.

“They will have 14 days to make the change, otherwise a second notice will be issued.

“If that notice is also ignored, we have no choice but to issue a summons, as this concerns road safety,” he told a press conference here on Tuesday.

Loke said in the event the notices do not reach car owners due to a change of address, insurance companies may be roped in to help trace the owners.

He clarified that JPJ was not intending to go on a “summons spree”, rather the summons was a last resort.

“It only takes an hour or two at the service centres, and it’s free. I urge car owners to go and check if their cars are included in the list of recalled vehicles,” he said.

The related car manufacturers are Honda, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Mazda and Lexus.

A total of 799,963 vehicles need to change their Takata airbags, but only 441,730 vehicles have so far done so.