Stellantis NV is rushing to fix around 500,000 cars from its Citroën and DS brands after urging clients to stop driving them due to faulty air bags from now-defunct Takata Corp.
The company is providing replacement vehicles, sourcing new air bags from a different supplier, and doubling the number of agents to help clients navigate the recall, Citroën boss Thierry Koskas told France’s BFM Business television on Friday.
“There’s some frustration,” Koskas said when asked about issues clients face when trying to get through to dealers or customer service. “We are working closely with our networks and are taking care of our customers.”
Early this month, Stellantis started recalling Citroën C3s and DS 3s manufactured between 2009 and 2019 in markets including France, southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the group said in a statement Thursday [May 30].
It warned owners of those vehicles to stop driving them immediately after identifying “a potential risk in geographic areas with hot and humid climates.” Stellantis is also offering some 60,000 replacement vehicles to customers.
Automakers including General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Ford were hit by the recall of more than 100 million defective air bags made by Japan’s Takata in one of the industry’s most complex and far-reaching safety crisis. Automakers continue to face legal claims tied to the defective airbags. The recalls led to Takata filing for bankruptcy in 2017 and spurred lawsuits by consumers and accident victims.
Photograph: The Citroen logo. Photo credit: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg
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