Honda Australia Reveals Takata ‘Hotspot’ Postcodes

Honda Australia has revealed critical Takata airbag ‘hotspots’, where higher numbers of Honda owners with Takata recalls have not yet had their vehicles repaired.
Honda Australia has revealed critical Takata airbag ‘hotspots’, where higher numbers of Honda owners with Takata recalls have not yet had their vehicles repaired.

Honda’s own data shows that the heavily populated metropolitan areas of Sydney and Melbourne have the largest number of outstanding owners with Honda vehicles that need their Takata airbag inflators replaced. Many of these customers would have received at least one recall notification and as many as five.

Honda’s own data reveals the 10 postcodes nationally that are among the most critical for outstanding Takata repairs in Honda vehicles.

These are:

2166 — Cabramatta, Cabramatta West, Canley Heights, Canley Vale, Lansvale (NSW)

2170 — Casula, Casula Mall, Chipping Norton, Hammondville, Liverpool, Liverpool South, Liverpool Westfield, Lurnea, Moorebank, Mount Prichard, Prestons, Warwick Farm (NSW)

2200 — Bankstown, Bankstown Aerodrome, Bankstown North, Bankstown Square, Condell Park, Manahan, Mount Lewis (NSW)

2144 — Auburn (NSW)

3021 — Albanville, Kealba, Kings Park, St Albans (Vic)

2145 — Constitution Hill, Girraween, Greystanes, Mays Hill, Pemulwuy, Pendle Hill, South Wentworthville, Wentworthville, Westmead (NSW)

2176 — Abbotsbury, Bossley Park, Edensor Park, Greenfield Park, Prairiewood, St Johns Park, Wakeley (NSW)

3029 — Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit, Truganina (Vic)

2165 — Fairfield, Fairfield East, Fairfield Heights, Fairfield West (NSW)

3030 — Werribee, Werribee South, Cocoroc, Derrimut, Point Cook, Quandong (Vic)

The postcodes with the largest number of outstanding repairs are all in NSW, with the 2166 postcode having the most number of repairs outstanding. This encompasses the Sydney suburbs of Cabramatta, Cabramatta West, Canley Heights, Canley Vale and Lansvale. More than 850 Honda owners are affected in these suburbs.

In Melbourne, 551 Hondas in the postcode area of 3021 — Albanville, Kealba, Kings Park and St Albans — are in need of Takata airbag inflator replacements. In the west and south western Melbourne metro suburbs of Werribee, Werribee South, Cocoroc, Derrimut, Point Cook, Quandong, Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit and Truganina more than 950 Hondas have outstanding Takata airbag recalls against them. Caroline Springs and Sunshine also have a high proportion of customers who have yet to have their Honda vehicles repaired.

Honda Australia Director, Mr. Stephen Collins, said even though the repair completion rate were now close to 90 per cent, he urged all remaining Honda owners who have not had their vehicles repaired, to do so. As of Monday, the completion rate was 89.8 per cent.

“It doesn’t matter how old your Honda is. All Honda owners should check their vehicle and if it’s part of the Takata recall, then make arrangements to have the airbags replaced,” he said. The repairs are free.

Mr. Collins said there may be several reasons why customers may have not yet contacted Honda to repair their vehicles, even though most would have received a recall notice.

“Among them would be the age of the car, the vehicle not being known to our database and ultimately, in the case of some of these postcodes, where English is not the first language in the household,” he said.

Honda Australia has multi-lingual services covering more than 20 languages available through the dedicated Honda Australia Language phone line on 1800 785 216. Honda’s own recall information on its website also caters to 10 different languages. www.honda.com.au

Since the Takata recall started in 2009, Honda Australia has sent as many as five Takata recall letters, to affected owners as part of a range of outreach activities to notify customers. Other efforts have included Facebook, text messaging, registered letters and even door-knocks.

Mr. Collins said 99 per cent of Takata-affected Hondas serviced in the Honda dealer network had been repaired. “This is because we know the addresses and have the relevant, up-to-date owner information on our database,” he said.

Other owners may have just forgotten about the recall.

“It’s critical that we get the remaining outstanding customer cars into dealerships, as these vehicles still have potentially dangerous airbags in them that can cause serious injury or even death in an accident if the airbag deploys incorrectly,” Mr. Collins said.

Some of the postcode ‘hot spots’ with the highest number of repairs outstanding, also had some of the best completion rates. It shows that in these postcodes, Honda vehicles are very popular, Mr. Collins said.

Postcode 3030 in Victoria — which includes Werribee, Werribee South, Cocoroc, Derrimut, Point Cook, Quandong, all in Victoria — has the best completion rate but is in the top 10 as a Takata ‘hotspot’, with more than 450 customers still needing to have their vehicles repaired.

Honda vehicles have a reputation for reliability and longevity and owners are faithful to the brand and tend to hang on to their cars, Mr Collins said. “However, we would urge these owners who have older cars to take heed of the Takata recall. If your vehicle is affected, our dealer technicians are equipped to repair cars,” he said.

Customers can check their registrations through the dedicated Honda Recall page at www.honda.com.au/recall

To date, Honda Australia has sent out more than 1.4 million forms of communications to affected owners. Honda continues to reach out to affected customers, including in remote Outback areas of the country, and as far north as Thursday Island. To date, Honda dealers have completed more than 593,000 inflator repairs. However, more than 67,000 inflators still need to be replaced in Honda vehicles across the country. This equates to 44,719 Honda vehicles still in need of Takata replacement work.
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