The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the move marked the largest ever compulsory recall of a product in the history of the nation, as well as the first to affect vehicles.
After tallying the figures from the Australian recall, a total of more than 100 million vehicles will have been called back for Takata airbag inflators, making it the largest automotive recall in history, according to Bloomberg.
Previous recalls in Australia were conducted on a voluntary basis, and had not done enough to protect drivers, according to Assistant Minister to the Treasurer Michael Sukkar.
“It is the safety of all Australians which is the first priority of this government,” Sukkar said on Wednesday.
The recall announcement requires that manufacturers replace defective airbag inflators within 2 years, according to the ACCC.
Takata in January 2017 pled guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay the U.S. Justice Department $1 billion for mishandling the reporting of its faulty airbags inflators. The company also pled guilty to wire fraud for falsifying data on the airbags to automakers who installed them in their vehicles. The company paid another $25 million in fines to U.S. regulators and $850 million to U.S. automakers to cover recall expenses.
Source: BBC News