Takata Airbags: UFC-Que Choisir launches class action against Stellantis in France

A first. UFC-Que Choisir announced on Tuesday, July 22, that it had launched a class action against the car manufacturer Stellantis (Citroën, Fiat, Peugeot, etc.) to demand compensation from owners of vehicles equipped with Takata airbags that were subject to forced immobilization. The consumer association has decided to take the matter to court "so that the damage caused to motorists who were victims of the stop-drive recalls , which have been carried out in a completely anarchic and unreasonable manner since 2023, is repaired," it said.

At the end of June, the French government ordered car manufacturers of all makes to ground an additional 800,000 vehicles equipped with potentially defective Takata airbags, bringing to 1.7 million the number of vehicles subject to a driving ban for this reason, until the device is replaced. This decision was taken after a driver died in a Reims accident when her airbag exploded during a collision with another vehicle.

"These stop-drive measures are the direct and certain consequences of the failure, through the negligence and chaotic management of Stellantis and Citroën, in the execution of their general safety obligation, constituting a fault of the manufacturer, and thus giving rise to the right to compensation," explains UFC-Que Choisir. At least three of the motorists killed in recent years were driving a Citroën C3.

The association is demanding a series of compensations for various damages, including daily compensation for the entire duration of the vehicle's immobilization and for moral damages suffered by consumers "transported in cars equipped with deadly equipment" .

This is the first class action lawsuit filed in France over these defective airbags, which have been responsible for at least 60 deaths in 11 countries over the past fifteen years, including 18 in France. In the United States, the hardest-hit country with 28 deaths, Ford, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Nissan, and Mazda have paid a total of $1.5 billion in compensation to victims.

Takata airbags are responsible for fatal or serious injury explosions due to a gas called ammonium nitrate, which degrades over time, particularly in hot and humid climates. The airbags then deploy even in the event of a minor collision, causing an explosion similar to that of a grenade and projecting pieces of metal and plastic into the passenger compartment, often fatal to the driver.

Takata, a world-renowned Japanese manufacturer of airbag and seat belt systems, was unable to survive the scandal and declared bankruptcy in 2017. In France, investigating judges are investigating suspicions of aggravated fraud and endangering the lives of others.