Electrical Noise Causing Random Airbag Deployments

It's Friday, so in the immortal words of Loverboy I feel I can say that "everybody is working for the weekend." That is, unless you're one of the defective airbags in over 2.1 million vehicles. Those suckers don't work at all. The airbags have a nasty tendency of randomly deploying due to electrical noise and have been recalled. If that sounds familiar, it's because they've been recalled before. Unfortunately 40 of the recalled vehicles still had a random deployment after they were "fixed", according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That's unacceptable, even by government standards.

This second round of recalls is going to take some time and involves Toyota, Chrysler and Honda vehicles.

What you need to know about Toyota's (And Pontiac's) recall ∞

• Toyota is recalling over 1 million vehicles from the 2003 and 2004 model years. That includes:
  • Any Toyota Corolla manufactured between December 28, 2001 and May 2, 2004
  • Any Toyota Corolla Matrix manufactured between January 6, 2002 and April 29, 2004
  • Any Toyota Avalon manufactured between June 5, 2002 and December 20, 2004.
  • Any Pontiac Vibe manufactured between January 18, 2002 and April 27, 2004. The Pontiac Vibe was derived from the Toyota Corolla, if you're wondering why it's being mentioned here.
• Pontiac owners will be contacted by GM, even though this is technically part of a Toyota recall.
• Dealers will replace the airbag control module, but replacement parts won't be available until the end of 2015.
• Temporary repairs might be available and you're highly encouraged to have them done.

Owners with questions can contact Toyota at 800-331-4331. Pontiac Vibe owners can call GM at 800-620-7668.