In Italy, not much was spoken of this, but on June 11, 2025 a woman died in Reims, in the north of France, due to the explosion of her airbag while driving a Citroën C3. It is a new case linked to the defective airbags produced by the Japanese giant Takata, already responsible in the past of about 30 deaths in the world. The French authorities confirmed that the trigger of the airbag was compromised by the degradation of the capsule containing the proposed gas, very sensitive to hot and humidity.
With the increase in extreme temperatures also in Northern Europe, as is happening in France and Germany these days, therefore the risk of these security devices will grow to turn into real danger. The heat can in fact accelerate The deterioration of ammonium nitrate used in Takata airbagsmaking them unstable and subject to violent explosion even in the case of small shocks.
The new serious accident caused an immediate reaction from the French authorities. The Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot, replied with a drastic and unprecedented measure, ordering The immediate blocking of the circulation for all Citroën C3 and DS3 that have not yet replaced the defective airbag.
This decision concerns about 250,000 vehicles, especially in the north of the country, where the calls had left late than the southern regions, initially considered more at risk for the warm and humid climate. However, the repetition of heat waves also in the north has shown that no area can be said to be safe.
The French Government therefore imposed: the ban on the circulation for the models not yet secured, a new information campaign to solicit the owners to carry out the free replacement of the airbag as soon as possible and finally strengthened checks to verify the actual adhesion to the call.
This hard line was welcomed by many consumer associations, who for some time asked for timely and binding interventions to protect citizens.
The complete list of brands and models concerned
Beyond Stellantis (Citroën and DS)many other car manufacturers have also started massive references in recent years.
Here is the list of brands and models affected by the call of Airbag Takata, a list still subject to changes, according to the French consumers magazine 60 Millions de Consommateurs:
Audi
BMW
Cadillac
Chevrolet
Chrysler
Citroën
From Tuesday 17 June, Citroën asks all the owners of C3 and DS3 affected by the call, regardless of the year of the model (produced until 2019), to stop guiding their vehicles. In Europe 441,000 cars are affected, of which 81,000 in France, in addition to those whose Airbag Takata have been replaced.
Dahatsu
Charade (NSP90) every year
Dodge
DS
Ferrari
Ford
Honda
Jaguar
Jeep
Launch
Land Rover
Lexus
Mazda
Mercedes
Mitsubishi
Nissan
Opel
Peugeot
Seat
Škoda
Subaru
Suzuki
Tesla
Toyota
Volkswagen
Does the call also concerns Italy?
Also in Italy, the problem of Takata airbags is far from marginal. The defective devices were mounted on millions of vehicles, including very popular brands such as Citroën, BMW, Volkswagen, Skoda, Opel, Nissan, Ford, Honda, Mazda and Toyota.
Despite the recall campaigns launched by many car manufacturers, information to Italian consumers was often lacking or ineffective, with readings of recall not received or arrived late and long times to obtain the replacement intervention. In some cases, the owners found themselves guiding potentially dangerous vehicles for years, without knowing it.
Even today, the management of information on the calls of vehicles in Italy presents several critical issues. Until 2020, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport published a half -yearly bulletin containing the list of vehicles recalled, but these data are no longer updated and were collected on a voluntary basis directly by the manufacturers. This system, in addition to lack of transparency, makes it difficult for consumers to have a clear and timely overview of the call campaigns.
At the moment, without an official document of MIT, The only reliable way to check if a vehicle is involved in a call is to consult the website of the manufacturer. By entering the frame number – which is located on the registration certificate – in the appropriate page dedicated to the references, you can check the status of your vehicle. However, this procedure requires an active initiative by the motorist and does not guarantee a widespread and systematic dissemination of information at national level.
